Your donors sustain your organization, but are they feeling the love? In this post, we’ll look at some creative ways to put them in the spotlight and make them feel appreciated.
Use Your Blog To Interview Donors
Your blog can be a great tool to put donors in the spotlight. If you’ve noticed a donor has given a large amount, or has been a loyal contributor for a year or more, why don’t you reach out to them for a quick interview to include in your blog?
You may even want to create a donor spotlight series in your blog to increase reader engagement and help you raise more money, with current and prospective donors wanting to increase their chances of getting selected for the spotlight.
Call to Thank Them
Not all donors will want to be in the public spotlight, but you can still make them feel appreciated in a more private way.
For example, you could select a bunch of long term donors, and ask volunteers, employees, or board members to call and thank them for their ongoing support. They can tell donors how much the organization appreciates their donations, and that it’s really been helping the organization do a lot of good.
Imagine how your donors will feel, when they are used to receiving automatic emails, and they hear from a real person from your organization.
By the way, make sure that these phone calls are used just to thank donors, not to solicit more. One study showed that board members calling to thank donors within 24 hours of making a gift resulted in them giving 39% more the next time they were solicited. Read about it here.
Include Them In Your Annual Report
Let’s face it, most annual reports are boring anyway and could use some sprucing up. Make yours more interesting, and show your appreciation for supporters, by making them the star, and including stories from them. See an example of annual report that does this here.
These stories will not only inspire your donors to stick around for a long time, but they will generate buzz around your annual report, as they will look forward to seeing who’s going to be featured.
Show Your Immense Gratitude
This last tip isn’t really a tip, but more an underlying mindset you should apply to everything you do: Show your gratitude whenever possible.
Your donors help your non-profit deliver its mission, and their generosity deserves thanks. So, whenever you have the chance to highlight their generosity, do it. Go out of your way to show them that you appreciate them, put them in the spotlight, make them the star, whether it’s by doing one of the things mentioned above, or by inventing your own.