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by
Katherine Khalife
"I was
in line at the grocery store the other day. The cashier was really rude to
people. When it was my turn, I handed her my money, she grabbed it, gave
me my change, and that was it. I couldn't help myself. I asked, 'Would it
kill you to at least say thank you?' She looked up and snapped, 'It's
printed on your receipt.'"
Jay Leno
Don't assume that people know you appreciate them or their help. Tell
them.
You
know yourself how much a thank you means -- and how good it makes you feel
when someone says it. Take the time to thank people no matter how busy you
are. It's not only good for the soul, it's also the best public relations
booster there is.
Be
sure the words "thank you" are in your voice mail greeting.
Nothing is more irritating than negotiating the endless hurdles of phone
system hell -- especially when you don't even get a thank you for going to
the trouble. Thank your listeners for calling, thank them for being
willing to leave a message, or thank them for their patience. It doesn't
matter exactly what you thank them for, just that you thank them for
making the effort to reach you.
Send
thank you notes and, whenever appropriate, hand write them.
Send them to donors, to volunteers, to colleagues, and to anyone else who
does you a good turn. In this day of form letters and printed receipts,
handwritten thank you notes are cherished goodwill builders. And the
networks of gratitude they build can boost careers as well. Management
guru Peter F. Drucker, honorary chairman of the Peter F. Drucker
Foundation for Nonprofit Management, attributes much of his success in
life to his early habit of writing 10 to 12 thank you notes a day.
Always thank donors.
When
it comes to fundraising, saying thank you is essential. It's hard to
imagine it not being a priority for some nonprofits, especially since
people are giving money that they aren't required to give. But according
to Penelope Burk, author of
Thanks!
A Guide to Donor-Centred Fundraising,
the number one donor recognition problem "is not acknowledging gifts,
period."
When
thanking donors, promptness counts.
It can even make a difference in how much they'll contribute in the
future. In a
thanks
test
Burk conducted in conjunction with the Ontario chapter of the Canadian
Paraplegic Association, she found that new contributors who were called
and thanked within 24 hours of receipt of their gift gave more in
subsequent appeals than did those who were not thanked promptly. How
prompt is prompt? Donors who were called more than 48 hours after their
gifts were received thought they were being solicited for another
donation.
Make
your donor thank you letters warm and personal.
To the recipient, a canned, overly formal thank you can sometimes feel
worse than not receiving one at all. But unless you're one of the lucky
ones who has a natural talent for it, writing creative, meaningful thank
you letters can be a challenge. Burk says you can force yourself to be
more creative by leaving the thank you for the end. She suggests, "You
might say, I just got your donation, I can't tell you how important it is,
we're putting it into this program, this is what it's going to do, here is
the time line, and you can expect to hear from us again next October when
we're going to tell you what the money has accomplished. And then say
thank you."
Consider running a Thank-a-thon.
In addition to thanking donors at the time of their actual gift, Terry
Axelrod, author of Raising More Money®: A Step-by-Step Guide to Building
Lifelong Donors, suggests taking thank you one step further by holding a
holiday
thank-a-thon.
Making holiday calls to those who gave to your organization during the
year, Axelrod says, conveys the message that "We noticed you gave. It
mattered. We appreciate you."
A
sincere thank you is one of the mightiest marketing and fundraising tools
there is. Use its power often and well.
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Katherine Khalife is publisher of MusemMarketingTips.com and the Museum
Marketing tips e-newsletter, used every month by thousands of cultural
organizations seeking practical tips to improve their marketing
Power of Thank You in
Fundraising!!
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