The Best Way to Say Thank You? Make It Personal

Valerie Harris
Senior Director, Stewardship Communications
University of Pennsylvania

Are you responsible for writing gift acknowledgments to your organization’s donors? Do you prepare individual reports to donors on the impact of their giving? Is it your job to draft correspondence to donors and other stakeholders on behalf of your nonprofit’s leadership?

You may not be a major gift officer or have personal face-to-face contact with donors. Perhaps the closest you ever get to your organization’s donors is through recognizing their names and the frequency and level of their giving. But if you answered “yes” to any of my opening questions, you have one of the most important roles in the fundraising cycle – donor communications. As writers and stewardship professionals, effective donor communications is our contribution to a successful fundraising program. Your correspondence expressing gratitude for financial contributions and assurance that gifts will be used as the donor intended are a huge part of the process by which your nonprofit maintains strong relationships with new and existing donors, and by extension, long-term fiscal health.

Research shows that among the top four fundraising initiatives that nonprofits are currently utilizing are Online Giving, Corporate Matching Programs, and Appealing to Younger and Diverse Donors. Personalized Communications ranks right up there with these.

According to a 2018 report published by the Philanthropy Centre, “The people who were the best at thanking were also the best at retaining donors and therefore increasing lifetime value.” Personalization is one of the most effective ways of thanking and acknowledging your donors to improve donor retention because it makes your donors feel recognized, like they are part of the family, like they and your organization share common values and have a common goal.

When new and longtime donors think about making their charitable contributions, you want them to think about your nonprofit and the good work that you and they are doing together.

This perspective is at the heart of donor retention, and personalized communications will help get you there. 

Personalization, at its core, is a strategy. It’s a communications approach to your gift acknowledgments and expands to your other donor correspondence as well. If you start from that mindset, it will color everything you do.

So how do you start? Access to donor information is essential to implementing the personalization strategy. Are you asking the right questions to allow you to speak directly to your donor? For instance, depending on whether you work in education, health care, community services or the arts you will want to know if the donor is a current participant (student/faculty/staff), patient, parent or patron. You’ll want to know the donor’s giving history—is this a current, past or new donor? To what program areas does the donor contribute? Does the donor have any volunteer roles or other connection with your organization? A comprehensive, customizable database that houses your donor information and allows you to track your communications over time will help ensure the accuracy and appropriateness of your personalization.

With the necessary information at your fingertips, you can begin putting personalization into practice. Here are the basic elements of the personalized communications approach.

• Personalization addresses an individual. But even here, mistakes can be made. Does the acknowledgement go to Mr. and Mrs. Harris? Ms. Harris? To Ronald Williams and Valerie Harris? To Valerie? To Val? Hopefully, you’ll get this right the first time—based on the donor’s relationship to whoever is signing the letter and on previous communications. But if you don’t get it right, and the donor reaches back to you to correct you, you should never get it wrong again. Always honor your donor’s preferences for how they wish to be addressed.

• Personalization acknowledges the recipient’s relationship to your organization. Is the donor a Board member, an alumni, a volunteer or simply a supportive friend? Depending on the relationship and the frequency of their giving, in addition to thanking them for their financial gift, you might also want to thank them for their leadership, ongoing commitment, valuable service or dedication to the cause or specific area of interest.

• Personalization appropriately reflects the recipient’s relationship to the signer. At most organizations, acknowledgments are signed by the top executive, although the signer may at times be the board or campaign chair, dean, or development director. At larger institutions, the donor may receive acknowledgement letters from multiple people in the organization. One signer may be on a first-name basis with the donor; another signer may not. The formality of the phrasing and other information shared rings true only when it is consistent with the donor/signer relationship.

• Personalization references the impact of the gift. Donors want to be assured that their contribution is being applied according to their intentions and that it is making a difference in the well being, advancement, or transformation of people, animals, projects, or communities. It only takes a well-placed sentence or two to provide that assurance in your acknowledgment letter. If the benefits of their contribution are readily quantifiable—two scholarship students, meals for 30 families, etc.—the number served is always a nice touch.

• Personalization offers fresh language to repeat donors. We can probably all agree that nothing is more impersonal than a form letter. And nothing shouts “form letter” louder than utilizing the exact same phrasing that you used in your previous communication. This is where you’ll recognize the importance of your communications-tracking system. And it’s where you will come to recognize your skill as a writer and development professional who has learned myriad ways to say “thank you.”

These elements of personalization look pretty simple, right? But think about the last time you donated to an organization. Did you receive an acknowledgment—one that did not ask you for another donation in the same letter? How many of these elements were included in the acknowledgment you received?

More importantly, to what extent are you personalizing the acknowledgements and other communications that you send to your organization’s donors?

The Philanthropy Center’s report quoted one donor as saying, “Those who thank me really well are the people that I stick with as a donor. In fact, I even reach out to them every once in a while and say, ‘When is the last time I gave a gift to you? It must be time again.”

Want to create this kind of exemplary relationship with your donors? Make your “thank you” personal and boost your donor retention to new heights.