As year-end giving quickly approaches, it is important to ensure that your online donation platform is being utilized most effectively. Below are four questions to consider when you’re evaluating content on your donor thank you autoresponder email.
Are you actually saying Thank You?
Thanking your constituents who donate seems obvious, but it can be overlooked. Say thank you early and often. Use this email effectively to express your gratitude – you can include a special note from your Executive Leadership, a key volunteers, or constituent that you serve.
Are you reinforcing the need?
Your donors are giving for a reason. The thank you autoresponder should illustrate the impact that their donation will have. Share a story, recent statistics, or link to an infographic that helps them understand how their contribution will be spent.
Does your donor know they’ll receive future emails?
Once this individual has made a donation they should be receiving future email communication from you. Ensure that they understand you will be communicating with them in the future. Mention that they’ll receive periodic updates so they know how their donation is being spent. Setting this expectation at the outset of your communication will help the donor know that they’re not being spammed.
Is there a secondary call-to-action?
If your donor opens the thank you email, it’s helpful to include a secondary call-to-action that they may be interested in. This could be connecting on social media, sharing their reason for donating, or learning more about upcoming volunteer opportunities. Cater the ask to meet your organizations needs – just ensure that you don’t ask them for a donation again!
We hope these four questions will help you strengthen your donation page. Another helpful link for your year-end planning is a blog post from earlier this year – we shared six tips to help strengthen your post-donation landing page.
We found these links interesting and thought you might enjoy them as well:
- Beth Kanter discusses how Giving Tuesday can help connect with and engage young constituents.
- Transparency is a critical topic for foundations. Jason Ricci, founder and CEO of Fluxx Labs, details how Fluxx works to be transparent on the Glasspockets blog.
- Cystic Fibrosis Foundation announced an expansion of their research program which is due to great success from a venture philanthropy program they’ve developed.
- Looking for other content distribution methods? Kevan Lee shares 17 tools for owned, earned, and paid content distribution channels.
- Can a hospitals develop a sharing economy? Ben Schiller explains the impact it could have for hospitals.
Justin (he, him) is a Principal and Co-Founder of Social Change Consulting. He has over fifteen years of nonprofit experience, with expertise in online fundraising, digital communications, and data management. Justin helps organizations connect their communication strategy to their income development needs. When he’s not on the clock, Justin is exploring Berlin, running, listening to too many podcasts, and drinking too much coffee.