#GivingTuesday was a huge success, and participating organizations all across the country made incredible impact with donors engaged and dollars raised to support their missions. It’s can be a long day, but take a moment and congratulate yourself on a job well done!

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How can you build on this momentum after #GivingTuesday is over? Here are some best practices for thanking your #GivingTuesday donors to help build deeper relationships with your supporters and increase donor retention in 2023.

Make Your Giving Tuesday Thank-You’s Prompt and Personal

In her book, Donor Centered Fundraising, Penelope Burk found that donors want prompt and personal gift acknowledgments.

We’ll Make Them Prompt…

Penelope Burk’s research found that first-time donors who received a personal thank you within 48 hours were four times more likely to give again. And Mightycause is here to help you thank your donors quickly with automated thank you pages and emailed receipts. Right from within your dashboard, you can easily edit your nonprofit’s checkout flow to personalize these automated messages.

You Make Them Personal!

While it’s great to have automated donor messages with a brief thank-you and their receipt sent right after someone donates, sending additional, personalized messages shows donors your meaningful appreciation for their gift.

Email: Feel free to send a #ThankYouWednesday mass email to let your donors know the outcome of your campaign and how their contribution will help further your mission. Then come up with a plan on how to segment your donor audience and thank them personally.

Video: Create a Video to say “Thank You” or Create and share a slideshow of the impact you made in 2022! If you focus on your impact and mission, this video/slideshow can be used in thank-you messages and year-end giving solicitations.

Phone: Break up your donor list, delegate to your board/staff, and take the time to make personal phone calls to new or major gift supporters. Even if you don’t get in touch with anyone, a simple voicemail message could boost retention by 30%.

Mail: Host a holiday mailing thank-a-thon and year-end giving party with your team where you write thank-you cards to #Giving Tuesday donors and year-end appeal to 2021 donors who haven’t given yet in 2022. Personalize each note and stuff envelopes together to make it a fun and streamlined process.

Bonus Tip: Make it Fun! Bring your whole staff together for the day and send holiday notes as a group. Play holiday movies or music, order lunch, and bring in cookies and hot chocolate. Make a new holiday tradition that builds staff camaraderie and thanks your donors at the same time.

Stewardship Best Practices

No matter which format you choose to share your gratitude, your stewardship plan should:

Segment your audience: When you host a party, do you treat old friends the same as someone new whom you’re trying to impress? Segment your audience lists and cater your messages to fit the circumstances of each donor’s unique giving history and donation amount.

Set up a welcome email series:

Any new person who has donated on Giving Tuesday cares about your cause. However, they may still have a lot to learn about your organization’s impact and why they should stay engaged.

A successful welcome email series should:

  1. Share your organization’s mission: Add your mission statement to every message.
  2. Update readers on your most relevant content: ‍New supporters know very little about your organization; even old news to you is news to them. Share popular blog posts, social media graphics, or news articles about your mission and impact.
  3. Include stories‍: Share testimonials or personal anecdotes from people directly impacted by your organization.
  4. Spread messages out over time: ‍Aim to be consistent in your messaging without overwhelming donors. Spread out your communication to keep your new donors engaged and lower the risk of them hitting the unsubscribe button.
  5. Share ways to get involved besides donating: Those who invested in your cause did so because they genuinely care about making a difference. Offer a variety of meaningful ways to get involved, create impact, and build a relationship with your organization.

Engage with supporters regularly by:

    • Recruiting volunteers
    • Inviting supporters to tours and events
    • Adding them to your e-newsletter list
    • Posting on your social media accounts
    • Sharing advocacy opportunities
    • Sharing in-kind needs

Check out these other blog articles for more stewardship ideas:

5 Creative Ways Thank Giving Tuesday Donors

Donor Appreciation: 6 Ways to Value their Support

 

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