This past week, we saw gratitude come full circle on a national stage. Jordan Spieth won the Masters on Sunday. And soon after his note of thanks for his high school scholarship became public on social media. In it he mentions his dream of winning the Masters. He also expresses his genuine gratitude to his donors. I am sure they were proud then, and I'm sure they swell with pride now.
This note alone is another reinforcement of why it is so important for us to encourage others to express their gratitude. When I survey donors, time and time again, the one thing they want 8 times more than any other donor relations communication is a thank you note from the recipient of their generosity. We can do this each and every time if we try. If we can't have the note come from the direct recipient, we can have one from their family or their community. We could also have one from a board member or a volunteer.
I believe it is essential to begin every board meeting by having all board members write 5 hand written thank you notes to donors. It instills a culture of gratitude and helps retention greatly. It also shows board members that for those who don't want to ask for money, thanking donors for their generosity is just as, if not more important. Do you have your board members do this? It's a great activity for all involved.
Want a great gift to help people understand the power of Gratitude, try this book from my friend Jennifer Richwine. It's powerful and a wonderful guide on why the thank you note is so special and how to write one effectively and beautifully.
This is my favorite thing in my office I keep and cherish each and every one I've ever been sent:
I look for this when hiring people in our profession too. I often ask the last time they wrote a hand written thank you note. If they give me a blank stare and fumble, I know this isn't my hire. If they tell me in detail about a note they recently wrote, that's a good sign. How do you assess an attitude of gratitude and build that into your culture? How can we reinforce the power of a thank you note?
I would love to hear from you.
Cheers,
Lynne
I started being more diligent about writing thank you notes after a session of yours I attended in the fall. Since then I have sent SO many notes - it has opened doors to meetings, tours of our organizations and thank you calls for my thank you note. :) Thank you for motivating me to do this! It works!
ReplyDeleteSo glad to hear this has had such a profound effect on you- and kudos to you for taking the challenge!!
DeleteI recently sent a handwritten note to a donor who had been making annual gifts of less than $50 to our organization since 1988. I thanked him and reinforced how his gifts have sustained our mission to serve more students and provide better community resources. The next week, the donor wrote me a thank you and copied our Chancellor to share how grateful he was just to be thanked-- it was the first time he had received a handwritten note from any organization. That was a "WOW!" moment for me-- you can bet I'll be writing a lot more notes!
ReplyDeleteIndeed what a wow moment! Keep writing!
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ReplyDeleteYesterday I returned to the office after a lovely lunch with a dear friend:) and found an email with an attached file sent by a donor. It contained a returned endowment report from well over a year ago with a circled and incorrectly used word and the comment..."X University should know better!" The donor also included a survey from the same time period and noted that she was not interested in speaking with anyone regarding her comments. I sat down and wrote her a note of thanks...thanking her for taking the time to share her comments and letting her know that I agreed, we should know better and that in the future we would do everything possible to live up to the standard she had for her university. I enclosed my card and let her know I would absolutely be available if she cared to visit about anything. It's easy and powerful to express thanks when someone has done something nice for us, but I think it's even more powerful to thank someone for pointing out your missteps and mistakes. Sometimes it opens doors that were closed,sometimes it doesn't, but it's the right thing to do. Thank you Lynne for your inspiration!
ReplyDeleteI just know that your note will resonate with them. Not only is it the right thing to do, it shows your graciousness. Feedback is one of the only ways we can improve. Great job and I can't wait to hear the results!
ReplyDeleteThis post couldn't have come at a more perfect time. Currently I'm trying to rally a group of students for thank you note writing and sharing Jordan's story will hopefully provide some motivation for our students. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteCarissa,
DeleteBy teaching and helping them express gratitude you are changing their lives! Keep it up!
My mom leaned on us to write handwritten thank you notes until we were grown up enough to do it on our own automatically. I've done the same with our kids. Countless relatives and givers have told me that often our kids are the ONLY ones who acknowledge a gift, let alone actually sit down and write a thank you note. Wow. And how ironic that I work in philanthropy now, and write thank you notes to donors and sponsors all the time. That 5 minutes of your time is so worth it, on so many levels. And good on you, Lynne, for choosing development people that understand that huge value of personal, timely thanks! Best, Poppy
ReplyDeleteKudos to you Poppy... I think we may have shared the same mother and are better off for their wisdom! Thanks for moving it to the next generation!
DeleteDitto to all of the above! One simple but practical tip: Have a box of pretty notecards on your desk ALL THE TIME, along with a good pen and a roll of stamps. That way you never have an excuse for putting it off or risk the mistake of forgetting to write. I know this sounds obvious, but how many times do we say "I should write a thank you note . . .." and then get distracted?
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree more! I also carry them with me at all times just in case I need to send one off! :)
DeleteNow if only my handwriting was nice! I cringe when I write notes because I find it so hard to be legible - sometimes I end up copying them 2-3 times because of my handwriting. But, it is still well worth it for our donors who deserve the best. Imagine if I hand't been taught penmanship in school!
ReplyDeleteI work at a non-profit that focuses on teen outreach. At our weekly staff meeting, all our staff is required to hand write two thank you notes. Our executive director is a real stickler on this. His theory is that if we don't have someone to thank from the past week, we are not making enough human connections. We also keep track of all the notes we send in a google doc. Additionally, just yesterday I had some teens in the office looking to volunteer so I had them hand write thank you postcards to our donors.
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