Don’t Let 1,835 Cats Kill Your Fundraising

Every year, my favorite charity saves 1,835 cats in Vancouver, British Columbia.

But it doesn’t talk to me about that. It tells me about one cat at a time. Why? Because it understands what makes a great thank-you letter.

The thank-you letter is an often-neglected piece of donor communication. It sits, stale and unattended, getting sent to hundreds or thousands of donors.

Maybe this is because there is a huge disconnect between how fundraisers are measured and evaluated (money in the door by fiscal year end) and how donors evaluate fundraisers (the communications they receive and how they feel when they get them).