It’s no secret that personal giving pages are changing the nature of the way we ask for gifts. It’s highly likely that, if you’re reading this, you’ve supported a friend or family member in a walk or run to raise money for one cause or another.
As with any fundraising, the relationship matters. And one of the ways you nurture a relationship over time is to properly express thanks and appreciation.
Recently I supported a friend and his son in their participation in the Walk to End Alzheimer’s. As is typical with personal giving, the “ask” appeared as a Facebook post. Everything about the donation page was what you would expect to see for this type of event-based fundraising.
But my friend, who has spent much of his career working with non-profits, elevated the follow up to the ask in a variety of ways.
First, he gave public shout-outs on Facebook to those who donated. He let us all know how his personal campaign was coming along.
Second, on the day of the event, he posted pictures. Not only was this a great reminder of the cause he was supporting (there was still time to give after all), but it also looked really fun. As a donor, I suddenly was part of the event, and encouraged to participate in a deeper way next year.
If you’re a non-profit leader, are you encouraging your volunteers to be as thoughtful and personal with their thank you efforts, as they are with their asking?
If your cause uses personal giving pages, I encourage you to coach your volunteers on these three key stewardship strategies for online donations:
A formal letter of acknowledgement from a non-profit organization is a helpful tax document, but a personal thanks from a campaign volunteer is what will really make me feel appreciated.
In the next part of this series, we’ll look at how to use data effectively in a thank you.