Making Your Thank You More Effective

Jane B. Ford

How much thought do you put into thank you letters for annual fund donors? Do you use a standard form for all gifts? If so, you may want to look at three ways you can make your thank you letters more effective.

First, tell the donor how you will use the money they donated. Of course, you can’t be as specific as you may be with a major donor who gave you $25,000 to pay for a new vehicle. Most annual fund donations are much smaller but all can be related to something in the appeal letter. For example, if part of your appeal for funds was to expand your homeownership program, you could talk about how the funds will help provide education to potential homeowners. If your request focused on music education for teenagers, talk about how the donation will help provide music lessons. Relating the donation to the request lets the donors know that you will use the money as they intended.

Second, have someone who knows the donor handwrite a brief note on the thank you letter specifically thanking the donor for the gift. This could be the Executive Director, the Board President, or another board member. Although this can be a time-consuming process, such personal notes will impress the donor and may encourage them to give more in the future.

Third, if the donation is tax deductible, make sure to let the donors know that the letter will serve as a receipt for their donation (as required by the IRS). A simple way to do this is to draw a line below the signature on the letter. Then put a statement that this is a “Gift Receipt”, and include the name of your nonprofit, the amount and date. The donors can then take this receipt and put it in their tax files for future reference.

Taking the time to implement these three suggestions can make the task of writing thank you letters more than a mundane task. Well written thank you letters are another way to communicate with your donors that may bring them closer to your organization – and increase future donations.

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