Re: Using Emails to Effectively Thank Donors

I’m a paper-lover and Sue is an integrated marketer, but we both respect the value of both paper and digital acknowledgments. Here, Sue deconstructs digital thank-you campaigns into four categories that I thought FundRaising Success readers would find valuable.)

I’m of the mind-set that you can’t thank your donors enough. Many nonprofit organizations have begun employing email thank-yous followed by personalized notes/letters of thanks after securing that first gift. But we all have different definitions about what an email acknowledgment really is. There are actually four types of email thank-yous to consider when you’re developing an integrated direct-marketing campaign. I’ve outlined them here and added my 2 cents about how you can make each of these efforts even more compelling to get your first-time donor to want to learn more about your mission.

The ‘bot’ thank-you
Your donor just finished pressing the PROCESS MY DONATION button and instantly gets an on-screen message that thanks him for his donation. There’s nothing personal about it unless your organization uses a more advanced content-management system (CMS) that can be personalized.