Nonprofit

Fundraising Tip: Thanks For Giving Day

Imagine a day for you and your board to do one thing — thank your donors.

A donor thank you card. Photo credit: Author

I had been leading a nonprofit fundraising team for just over a year when the idea of creating an opportunity for our board members to have a bigger role in thanking those who support us came to me.

In fundraising, you know, and hear it all over the place, the importance of thanking donors.

“Thank before you bank”.

Thanking is part of the process of building a relationship with the donor.

And fundraising is about relationships.

Thanking a donor is part of the process to build the opportunity for a donor to donate again.

I thought about a gathering of board members at which they could contact donors and personally thank them for their donations. They would not ask for a donation, only thank the donor. This would also give the board members a chance to be part of fundraising.

This is when Thanks for Giving Day was born. I chose the Thursday before Thanksgiving Day (in the US). I thought this would be a great time to reach out to donors, before the hecticness of the holidays, and perhaps the time those donors make their annual donation to an…