Beyond the Acknowledgment Letter

Recruiting new donors can cost up to 10 times more than retaining existing ones! Therefore, multi-dimensional stewardship programs are not only cost-effective investments of your organization’s time and resources, they are also easier to implement than you might think. Here are a few quick tips to help you keep your donors around longer and increase their annual gifts.

A personal connection means more to someone than a pen.

We’ve all heard it a thousand times…people give to people. So introduce them to your people! This summer, our intern used a flip camera to put together two videos for our donors – a video "Thank You" message and a short "Happy Birthday" video. Both videos feature our dancers, staff, students, parents and Board members. They certainly aren’t fancy, but they communicate our mission in a way that a letter or brochure can’t.

We also try to keep track of important life events for our donors. If we hear news about a wedding, baby, illness, promotion, etc., we circulate a card around the office and each DBDT staff member writes a quick message. They obviously care about our organization, so we want them to know we care about them, too!

“Behind-the-Scenes” events are another great way to grow that personal connection. We host three, free afternoon performances each year here in our studios. But perhaps you could invite your donors to your offices to hear testimonials from some of your clients. Or if you provide training or seminars, invite them to a session. The closer they get to your mission, the stronger that connection will be.

Acknowledgment is an ongoing process. The organization that keeps on thanking gets the donors who keep on giving.

We all know the drill…phone call within 24 hours, tax letter within 48. But what about the other 363 days of the year? Keeping your donor connected to the organization and demonstrating the impact of their gift throughout the year will go a long way in keeping those renewal rates in your favor.

Most organizations are accustomed to providing our corporate and foundation funders with the required year-end grant reports. But, just like individuals, corporations and foundations need to feel the love year-round, too! Following each of our performance series and major educational initiatives, we provide our donors with a program wrap-up. We include promotional materials and press for the event, the number and demographics of the people served, pictures, and a short letter of summary and thanks.

Newsletters and e-blasts are also great tools in demonstrating their dollars at work. Our Executive Director often forwards press releases to our donors, thanking them for their support and all the ways their gift helps our organization grow. Just make sure to keep them short, sweet, and upbeat.

Few people will turn down a public recognition.

Finding creative ways to publicly acknowledge your donors can be a great retention (and acquisition!) tool. Last year, we designed a banner to be displayed at all of our performances and at our studios featuring the personal signatures of our $100 and up donors. The response to this was amazing! Now when you come to our performances, you will often see people standing by the banner, looking for their John Hancock.

We have also used GOBOS at our events to feature the names and signatures of our donors. These are often used for corporate logos, but we found that individual donors like to see their name in lights, too!

Your social media channels also offer a great opportunity to acknowledge your donors (with their permission, of course). Let your Facebook and Twitter community know when you land that big grant!

Think about hosting a Donor Appreciation event. This is a great way to get your entire giving community in the same room. We host an annual awards ceremony and present any donor who makes a gift of $1,000 or more with a small plaque. The turnout from individuals, corporations, and foundations has been great!

People who give to tangible things want you to deliver tangible results.

63% of individual donor respondents said the thing that influences them the most to increase the value of their gifts is receiving measurable results of their previous gift at work. Donors want to know…HOW DID THEIR GIFT HELP? With the shrinking number of corporate dollars and increasing competition for institutional funding, most organizations are used to having to translate their mission into numbers. But individuals want your digits, too!

This year, we put together a “DBDT by the Numbers” stewardship piece. It crunches everything we do – from the number of full-time dancers we employ to the number of children served by our in-school residencies – into numbers. Quantifying your impact…and how that grows with each gift…is a simple but effective message.

Hello and thank you for your gift…

We all know that a personal phone call can make a donor feel pretty special. But one thing to think about is finding the right caller for the job. Find out the donor’s connection to the organization, what aspect of the mission resonates with them most, and then identify the appropriate staff or Board member to make the call.  

Always ask WHY…and WHO.

One of the easiest things you can do to improve donor retention is to simply ask WHY THEY GIVE. Not only will this help inform your future solicitations, it will also create another opportunity to make that personal connection. You can even make this a part of your acknowledgment phone call script. Also, think about doing a donor survey or focus group. The more you know about them, the more they’ll want to know about you.

For every six new donors obtained, nonprofit organizations lose five. But, lucky for us, we are used to finding creative, cost-effective solutions that will advance our missions. We also have a great resource in the Center for Nonprofit Management who encourages collaboration and idea-sharing in the DFW nonprofit community. Thank you to Lauren Sifferman and the entire CNM team for inviting Dallas Black Dance Theatre to lead this morning’s 501 Club. I am always so impressed with the incredible talent, passion, and resourcefulness of this city’s nonprofit leaders. The more opportunities we have to learn from each other, the better this city will be. So, it’s only appropriate that I end this blog post with a very big THANK YOU!!! 

Ashley Pirsig                                                  
Individual Giving & Stewardship Manager      
Dallas Black Dance Theatre