Fantastic Thank you Letters

I realize most nonprofits are still receiving year end gifts in response to your year end appeal.  Its never to early to start writing a carefully crafted thank you letter for those thoughtful donors.  Here are five tips to make your thank you letter a more meaningful one. 


1. Personalize it.  This may sound very simple but you don't know how many template, standard letters go out this time of year.  Make sure, your letters have the first name of the donor or " Dear friend," on them. 


I am always amazed when I receive a thank you letter from a charity that has no mention of my gift amount.  It sort of makes me feel like my gift did not matter enough.  In these tough times, gifts are harder to come by and a little extra work can help to ensure your donors feel her gift is truly appreciated.   This will help the donor for their tax purposes in 2011!


2. Repeat gifts. If this is a repeat donor make sure you acknowledge their past gifts.  Remind them how their previous gift helped your organization to meet its mission.  You may want to say something like, " Your last gift helped to ensure 30 families received services..." You may even want to say, "We appreciate your continued support over the last four years..."


3. How will their contribution help.  Add some detail of how their gift will help your organization now.  If the donor checked off a particular program or project in their donation form, mention it in the thank you letter.  You may want to add a sentence about what you hope to achieve during the year for this project.  


4.  Real signature.  Have a real person sign the letter!  I realize that around this time you may be fortunate enough to have a stack of letters to sign.  Its probably easier to have a signature stamp.  But  real signature means a lot to the person receiving the thank you letter. 


5. P.S. In your letter offer the donor several options where they can learn more about your organization.  These options include: site tours, website updates, organizational blogs, and a contact number where they can call.  This is also a great opportunity to offer volunteer opportunities if the donor is interested. 


I hope these tips help you to craft a better thank you letter.  Oh yes and one last tip... your thank you letters should be mailed no later than the end of January.  This should give you 30 days to respond to all your donor gifts.  Normally, you should let more than 48 hours go by without sending a thank you letter.  However, with the holidays we are afforded a little more time. 


Happy Letter Writing!