In a recent email Tom Ahern referred to Thanking Donors as the “Secret Sauce” for your fundraising efforts. He went on to talk about the importance of thanking sincerely and thanking fast. In fact there is evidence that if you personally thank a first time donor within 48 hours of their gift, they are 400% more likely to make a second gift!
400%! – That’s worth hand-writing a card or picking up the phone. Especially if you also know that 70-80% of first time donors won’t give again.
Finding new donors is a lot of hard work. It is actually much easier to look after the ones you have adn it is very worthwhile putting time adn effort into looking after them well.
Thanking should be seen as a high-impact, high-reward, and integral part of your fundraising strategy.