How to Craft a Killer Thank You Letter
Can you pull off a drop-dead, killer thank you letter?
One that makes your donor so very happy that she made her gift?
You want to write a killer thank you letter that will:
- Assure your nervous donor that she made a wise investment.
- Make your donor feel like she did the RIGHT THING.
- Bring joy to her heart – and to her life. And to her own holiday season.
Your thank you letter is the first step toward RETAINING this donor.
Don’t let her become one of the many donors who give once and then drop away.
Make your thank you letter memorable, and she’ll be impressed. She will remember you. And she’ll feel closer to your organization.
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Think about how your thank you letter makes your donor feel.
1. Make it prompt.
A really prompt TY note impresses your donor.
It indicates to her that your organization is well run.
And in this day of nervous donors, that gives you a significant leg up.
2. Make it personal.
Penelope Burk always says donors want a prompt, personal thank you before they are willing to consider a repeat gift.
Her landmark book, Donor Centered Fundraising, has a terrific list of 20 attributes of a great thank you letter. I’m referring to some of hers here as well as my own.
So what does personal look like?
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– Use of the first person “I” and “we.” It is really ok to use the word “I” in a thank you letter. Make it sound like it’s from a real person!
– Use the second person: “you,” “you” and “you” again. Count how many times you use the word “you.”
– A warm tone toward the donor (vs a lofty formal, distant tone.)
– Casual writing – use contractions such as We’ll rather than We will.
– Use an exclamation mark if appropriate.
3. Starts out in a personal way.
Never, never, never begin with “on behalf of . . . “
Instead try an unusual opening line.
4. Has a warm tone.
Be sincere. Show some thoughtfulness.
Show yourself as a real person, and try to connect with the donor instead of staying so distant.
5. Be emotional.
Don’t bury it. Wear your heart on your sleeve.
Try to convey excitement about what can happen with the donor’s gift.
Say things like,
- “ I can’t begin to thank you enough for . . .
- “We are absolutely thrilled to have your support again this year.
- “Because of your gift, a family will have . . . (or a kid will get . . . ; or our water will be cleaner. Or whatever.
- “You were wonderful to renew your support . . .
6. Send a real letter, not a pre-printed card.
Never send a pre-printed card. It’s just too impersonal.
Your donor has just sent you his money. He is saying that he believes in you and trusts you.
Sending a pre-printed card is a turn off – no matter what the size of the gift.
7. Thank smaller gifts warmly.
Smaller gifts should also get warm, prompt, personal thank yous.
Remember, there are plenty of major gift prospects in your donor files who are giving you smaller gifts.
Treat these donors well by sending them a killer thank you letter, and they’ll reward you with repeat and larger gifts.
8. Refer to the donor’s past support if you possibly can.
Acknowledge the long term partnership your donor has with your organization.
And celebrate it.
It’s weird to a donor if she has been giving to you for years and years, and you don’t acknowledge it somehow.
9. Use the donor’s name in the salutation.
Yes: Dear Ms. Smith
No: Dear Friend.
Certainly, with today’s technology, you can personalize these letters.
10. Sign the letter personally and write a note at the bottom.
You spent all that time writing notes on your appeal letters.
Don’t forget to send warm wishes in the thank you!
The PS is the most-read part of your killer thank you letter. Make it count.
11. Send more than one thank you letter.
All from different people at your organization.
This small step could help your organization stand out and forge a much stronger relationship with your donors.
12. Send an additional thank you letter from a board member.
I know organizations that bring stationery to the board meetings and have board members hand-write letters.
I love this, because it helps connect trustees to the fundraising process.
13. Have a high-ranking person personally sign the letter.
Penelope Burk suggests that an arts organization can have the artistic director, the conductor or ever the prima ballerina sign the letter.
What a great idea!
Don’t have the wonderful but lowly development assistant sign the letter.
What a lovely thank you letter!
14. Send a TY letter from a person helped by your organization.
I can’t think of ANYTHING more powerful than this, can you?
15. Reconfirm the purpose of the gift.
If the gift is for the library, for example, say something about what the library plans to achieve with the gift.
Most donors are worried that their gift will not be spent wisely.
Acknowledging how the money will be spent is essential – it helps build trust.
16. Include a contact name and number.
Ideally, it would be the head of the library if that’s where the donor directed her gift.
I love this idea – because it makes the donor feel personally more connected.
Bottom Line: Killer Thank You Letter Do’s and Don’ts
Here’s a quick list summarizing my DO’s and Don’ts:
Thank you letter DO’s
- Be really, really prompt.
- Get the donor’s name right.
- Have a high-ranking person personally sign the letter.
- Show some emotion.
- Convey gratitude.
- Wear your heart on your sleeve.
- Refer to how the gift will be used.
- Personalize the salutation: Dear Mr. Smith.
- Send several TY notes from different people.
- Send additional thank you letters from board members.
- Send a TY letter from someone helped by your organization.
- Sign it with a real signature.
- Be positive and upbeat.
- Include a contact name and number if the donor has questions.
- Handwrite it if you know the donor well.
- Begin with an innovative or creative sentence that charms the donor.
THANK YOU LETTER DON’TS
- Start out with “on behalf of.”
- Ask for another gift.
- Use thank you letter jargon: “we are deeply grateful for your continued support”
- Start out with Dear Friend.
- Ask anything else from your donor right now.
- Misspell their name.
- Have errors in grammar, punctuation or misspellings.
- Go on and on. Ditch the verbosity. Do be concise.
- Don’t keep “selling.
- Don’t re-use copy that you used in the solicitation letter to talk about your programs.
- Don’t be formal. Or lofty.
- Don’t be vague about how the money will be used.
- Don’t sign it yourself if you can get a higher-ranking person to sign it.
Next Step:
How do YOU create a killer thank you letter?
What are YOUR favorite warm and fuzzy thank you letter words and phrases? Can you share them in the comments below?
Gail – thanks so much for this. My favorite “thank you” phrase this year is one I got from one of our donors, Bread for the Journey (http://www.breadforthejourney.org), a nonprofit that gives micro-grants to local organizations like ours. They start out their donor page on their website with, “When you make a donation to Bread for the Journey®, you become a partner . . . ” I am thinking that people would feel good knowing they are a partner with their nonprofit in doing good in the world.
Thank YOU for being an outstanding partner to nonprofits everywhere.
Ruth Schwartz
Founder/President/Board Chair
Respecting Our Elders
http://www.respectingourelders.org
Gail, this was a terrific article. Stewardship is far too often not given the attention it deserves as part of the fundraising process. Thank you for focusing on the importance of a quality thank-you.
I would like to underscore one of your Don’ts: “[Don’t] Ask for another gift.” It amazes me that there continues to be so much debate about this. Sometime ago, I devoted a blog piece specifically about the notion of not including an ask in a thank-you letter. I think that you and your readers might appreciate reading the article and the varied comments I received. You can go to “Can a Thank-You Letter Contain an Ask?” by visiting: http://wp.me/p1h0KY-6z.
always good to be reminded! Thanks for sharing.
Awesome, Gail! Great advice.
Thanks for the great tips! Any ideas or examples of creative unique opening lines?
Hi sarah, you could try saying, “We were thrilled to receive your gift last week. You are so kind to remember our organization. All the children we serve join me in thanking you for helping them . . . ”
Something like that. Just ditch the formality, ok? : )
Hi Gail, You are “right there on the mark” when it comes to donor-centered fundraising. Although I’m focused on planned giving I absolutely agree with this and so many other “teachings” you offer. I tweeted and posted to Facebook. Thanks for such great input
What are your thoughts about thanking your donor and giving them options about how they can become even more involved (ie: volunteer opportunity, referring someone to our services, etc.)?
What are your thoughts about thanking your donor and giving them options about how they can become even more involved (ie: volunteer opportunity, referring someone to our services, etc.)?
Great ideas Gail. I think the tone of the letter is so important and you are dead on about using warm, informal language. And sending a thank you letter from someone the organization has helped can be so powerful. In fact, I encourage organizations to collect the stories of people they’ve helped to use in thank you letters and many other applications. Also, a phone call from a senior/long-time volunteer to say thank you can be very effective.
Karen, great ideas – thanks for adding them!
Stephanie, I totally love that idea. Always important to encourage involvement. Especially since we know that involvement leads to investment!
This is a wonderful post! I think most if not all of what you say can be applied to volunteer retention. I always write thank-you notes to my volunteers and have a quarterly newsletter just for them. My volunteers often say our organization is one of the only places that does handwritten notes and how much it means to them. I wonder if people aren’t taught the basic fundamentals of networking.
I really enjoyed this, thanks!
Dara, what a terrific idea! Treating you volunteers like your donors. Way to go for adding such an important thought to our discussion!
I love this post! I work with churches and I regularly tell them that they need to learn from the non-profit world that does a much better job at saying thank you. Never take a donor or any donation for granted. I am re-Tweeting this one!
Wonderful blog & good post.Its really helpful for me, awaiting for more new post. Keep Blogging!sampleletters
Can you share some example letters?
It’s great……………!
very informative and useful
keep on sharing the such tips
Great post! Does this apply to the standard thank you letters generated by the organization, or just to the personal ones sent by the development officer – or both? Generally our standard thank you letters are more formal in nature and not the “wear your heart on your sleeve” kind.
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What do you suggest for those that give with every pay period? I am overrun by having to write thank you’s (a good problem to have) but I am drained with a million different ways to write Thank you, so that people won’t feel as though they’re getting a mass produced letter. I am a proponent of hand written, short thank you’s (which the program isn’t keen on)- but since we have so many giving levels – I think that those who are giving large amounts, already KNOW what we’re trying to achieve and don’t need to be reminded with a full page thank you, and yet a short paragraph seems so sad and cheap!
help!
I have a similar issue and my solution is to spend a day or two at the end of our fiscal year writing twelve-fifteen different “personalized for the time of year” thank you letters and name them January1,February1, August1, August2, December1, December2 (some months we receive more repeat donations than others so I write two for those months). It takes hours to do this but I find it is time well spent and helps me more easily and personally steward/cultivate the donors in my portfolio. And, since I don’t have a lot of time to write those handwritten notes either, I usually write a short note of thanks at the bottom of the letter.
Hope that is helpful.
Cindy what a terrific idea!!! Love it. Hope everyone who reads this follows your lead.
We couldn’t do this without you, it means the world to the young people, how lovely to receive your donation, so good to hear from you and thank you for ….:)
Yup! These are all great things to say to your generous donors!
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