Boost Your Revenues and Donor Loyalty with Effective Donation Thank-You Letters

By Alan Sharpe (February 2005) E-book  $9.99

Master the most important letter in fundraising.

 

Fundraising is about relationships, not revenue.  The only way to generate sustainable income through the mail is to build  relationships with your donors, relationships that are built on trust, ones that are  mutually beneficial.

This means that your goal with every letter you mail to  donors is not to raise funds but to raise friends. Or, to put it another way,  your aim with every fundraising letter is to retain donors first, and to raise  revenue second.

Re-soliciting existing donors is likely to perform five to  eight times more profitably than acquiring the same number of equally generous  first-time donors, says James Greenfield in Fundraising Fundamentals: A Guide to Annual Giving for Professionals and Volunteers. Your existing  donors are always better prospects for gifts than those who have never supported  your cause.

So you can see how vital it is for your organization to  keep the donors you have. In the fundraising profession, we call this donor  retention. Donor retention is all about loyalty, the donor’s loyalty to you,  and your loyalty to your donor. And the most effective  way to increase donor loyalty is to write heart-felt, personal thank-you  letters.

Boost Your Revenues and Donor Loyalty with Effective Donation Thank-You  Letters is the  fifth Handbook in the Hands-On Fundraising Series, published by Andrew Spencer Publishing.  It shows you how to craft donor-centered thank-you letters that increase  revenues, strengthen your relationships with your donors, and boost donor  loyalty over the long-term.

What you’ll learn

Six lasting benefits of writing effective thank-you letters.

• learn why thank-you letters are the right thing to do—always
• see why you must remind donors that they made the right decision in supporting your organization
• appreciate the need for showing your gratitude for each donor’s gift, every time
• discover how thank-you letters increase donor loyalty
• learn why thank-you letters (written properly and mailed the right way) strengthen your relationships with your donors
• discover the power behind this amazing fact—thank-you letters increase your chances of receiving more gifts in the future

Anatomy of an effective donation thank-you letter.

Review a donation  thank-you letter that was crafted by a professional direct mail fundraising  letter writer. Read his paragraph-by-paragraph annotations—all the way from the  date right down to the postscript and everything in between.

• the date and why to use it
• the salutation and what to put there (and what not)
• the opening sentence and why it’s so vital to building loyalty with your donors
• when to say thank you the first time
• different ways to say “thank you”
• where to show how the donor’s gift will make a difference
• what language to use in describing why the gift is so appreciated
• how to end the letter on a positive note
• how to sign off in a fresh way
• what color ink to use for your signature
• the postscript and at least one idea of what to put there

Learn the five classic mistakes to avoid.

• one mistake deals with if you say thanks
• another mistake is all about timing (get this wrong and you lose a donor for  good)
• a third mistake deals with your approach
• another blunder is all about your desire to save money on expenses—and why  you should ignore it
• the final mistake to avoid is tempting to make, even for large, experienced organizations

Ten things to say “thanks” for

Your thank-you  letters will be more original if you vary the things you are thankful for, and  mix and match them in each gift acknowledgement note you write. Learn nine more  things to say thank you for besides the gift.

Download this Handbook now. Start reading it within minutes.

Product Details

Format: E-book in Adobe PDF format for immediate download
Pages: 11
Publisher: Andrew Spencer Publishing
Language: English
ISBN: 978-0-9784051-5-1
Dimensions: 8.5 x 11 inches
SKU: sharpe009

Subscribe to the Expert Fundraiser newsletter and receive a free fundraising tip each week by email.

---

Look for Similiar Items and Articles by Category or Author

Home > Store > Donation Thank-You Letters

Home > Store > Alan Sharpe

Home > Articles > Donation Thank-You Letters

Home > Articles > Alan Sharpe

Home > Experts > Alan Sharpe