NONPROFIT TIP . . . "THANK YOU CALL PARTY"
A message that we push to clients (and on our blog) over and over again, is in regards to making sure you say THANK YOU to your donors.
This week we wanted to toss an idea for you to consider . . . having a "Thank You Call Party" with your board and staff.
WHAT - It's a time when your board members can gather (in a social distancing environment of course), be given a list of donors who made contributions during the year, and simply call and thank each one of them. You are not asking for money, to volunteer, or anything. You are just calling to say THANK YOU.
WHERE - This could be in person as mentioned or you can have your board and staff do this at their homes. If you are able to do this in a social distancing setting, there is something to be said about the energy from being together.
HOW - Figure out the total number of donors you want to call, split the list up, and give each board or staff member a list of those people. Then just bang away at the calls. Make sure to have some food and drink available, put some notepads around in case anyone wants to write down any notes from their calls, and most important . . . have some sort of countdown of either time or the number of calls that HAVE been made.
WHY - The reason you want to do this is for two main factors. First, your donors will love it. Sure, you will probably get a lot of voicemails. Remember the days in the 80's and 90's when people would call and you would pick up because you did not know who was on the other line? Those days are gone. With phone screening, people don't always pick up. However what we do know is that even if you leave a voicemail, donors say that they appreciate it. Second though, this is a great way for ALL board and staff members to take part. Many folks do not enjoy ASKING people for money (Another great reason to use Midwest Studies Group for Annual Campaigns) but when it comes to thank you calls, just about everyone is game to do that. The perfect thing being, that it makes ALL board members feel like they are contributing and part of the team.
So there you have it. Such a simple, yet POWERFUL, way to keep in touch with your donors in a personal way that all parties will enjoy. For more tips on how to make this work, feel free to reach out to us with questions.
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Midwest Studies Group helps nonprofits to increase their resource development capacity by connecting people closer to their community by way of need assessment studies, community impact studies, feasibility studies, and EOS coaching. For more info please visit us at www.midweststudiesgroup.com