As you gear up for all the direct mail and online contributions your organization will generate in the next few weeks take two minute to view this month’s member message with some great suggestions about making donor acknowledgment meaningful.
Penny Casavant is the Director of Organizational Advancement at Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Saint Cloud, Minnesota. She and her team are superstars at staying in touch with their supporters.
Lori, thank you for sharing Penny’s sage advice with all of us. It is about gratitude, real gratitude, isn’t it? And connections with human beings, not numbers or accounts.
Here’s my agreement and thanks also, Lori. People can tell if your thanks are genuine, and I think appreciate organizations which focus on service rather than empire building, in these tough times.
Yes, being authentic with our gratitude can make a huge difference in building loyal, long-term supporters v. transactional supporters.
Yes!!! Thanks for sharing, Lori.
Wow, if only most nonprofit organizations stayed in touch with their supporters in a gracious and positive way. Instead, studies have shown many nonprofits drop the ball in this area and then wonder why raising funds is so difficult.
You are so right, Roger.
Penny and her team at Catholic Charities in St. Cloud, MN do an awesome job and have tens of thousands of donors that they maintain relationships with. It can be time consuming and daunting, but it CAN be done.
There’s nothing more important for a nonprofit fundraiser to do than thank her donors. Nothing.
Sandy
I feel so much happier now I udnesratnd all this. Thanks!