When nonprofits get a donation from a first-time donor online, they have several options. They can leave their donor with a cursory thank you message page after the transaction has completed, or they can go further to ensure that donor gives more!
When a donor gives to your nonprofit, they should receive these three things in return:
A genuine, sincere letter about the importance of their donation.
When someone donates to your online site, your site should immediately direct them to a letter written and signed by the co-founder or the CEO. The letter should thank them for their gift and confirm the mission statement behind their cause.
A moving story of a person or cause your nonprofit has helped.
The same day, the donor should get an email detailing one particularly gratifying way your nonprofit has helped someone or something. Whether it’s raising funds for Alzheimer’s research, or saving a kennel full of malnourished dogs from a puppy farm (with a photo of the same fat, happy puppies a year later attached!) you need to put a face to your cause that is as personal as possible.
A quantifiable, number-based breakdown of the good you do.
Within a week, the donor should receive another email that is more or less the opposite of the last – instead of an emotional, heart-wrenching testimonial, this should be a matter-of-fact, number-oriented breakdown of why your nonprofit is so fantastic. Did you donate over 5,000 pounds of food to Hurricane Harvey victims over the course of three days? Have you helped feed more than half a million children? How many crazy success stories does your nonprofit have to share? You should send these to all donors every quarter, to show them where their money is going.
A donor has already gotten on board with your cause – prove to them that their donation did not go to waste!
