'Tis The Season!

It's that magical time of year again, a chill in the air, holiday parties, and the most magical thing of all, year end solicitations... Ha ha. I jest, but in all reality I am very serious here, at the end of the year we ask, ask, and ask some more.
Which leads me to ask YOU, are you thanking as much as you are asking, if not more?? Don't misunderstand, I know you are doing your best keeping up with acknowledgments and holiday party eggnog and such, but outside of that, what are you doing to let donors know you appreciate them??
Holiday cards are nice, I guess, but they're ridiculously expensive and time consuming... How many people need to see that list?? I still chuckle here at Yeshiva every time I get a Christmas card catalog and samples... Talk about mistargeted direct mail! Ok, I digress, back to the point, what are you doing at the end of this year, the beginning of next to appreciate your donors?

Here are some ideas:

1. How about a lovely holiday video or a tour of campus? Could be for new years as well- here are some samples 1 2 3 4 5
2. At this time, some orgs send a screensaver download that donors can use year round

3. We send the following card for Haunakkah, as part of my high end blanket stewardship program, inviting them to has a personal tour of our museum.

4. We turn that around and for our mid level donors, send them a link to a virtual tour of our exhibits

5. We are also planning our annual thank a thon for January, where we call and thank our donors... Look for an upcoming post on its execution soon!

6. For monthly or direct eft donors an email profiling one thing that happened at your org each month, a simple paragraph or image, that wouldn't have happened without private support!

I think the point that I am trying to make here is evident, are we thanking as much as we're asking?? Notice that none of these gas a tangible IRS FMV benefit, so I avoid jeopardizing their tax deductibility status as well... Hint hint!

In turn, you are showing donors that you think of them as more than a transaction, they are engaged partners in your success and they are appreciated. So what are you going to do???

Cheers,

Lynne