Three Thank-You Note Tips

It’s important for organizations to send donors letters that express their gratitude for a gift -- the more personal and grateful, the better.

In the February issue of the e-newsletter by nonprofit direct-marketing firm Mal Warwick Associates, Peter Schoewe, senior consultant for the firm, wrote a great piece on thank-you letters that stresses this point.

Some of his key tips:

1. Thank-you letters don’t need to be well-written. Schoewe says that, actually, somewhat awkward thank-yous are a good thing.

2. Use words that bring the donor closer to your organization. A phrase like “We are grateful” should be replaced by “I am grateful.” Similarly, a phrase like “Many of you responded generously” tells the donor that it is a form letter. Replace phrases like this with the more personal “You responded generously.”

“I try to avoid all words that evoke large, distant organizations or masses of indeterminate donors,” Schoewe wrote. “Every ‘you’ must be one person and one person alone — the donor reading the letter. And almost every ‘we’ should be crossed out and replaced with an ‘I.’”

3. Personalize it to the hilt. If you’re actually writing a personal note to a donor, put in as much information as you can that shows you know him. Does he have children? Ask about them. Has she been a donor for six years? Acknowledge and thank her for that.

Peter Schoewe can be reached via www.malwarwick.com

To read the complete article in the February e-newsletter, www.malwarwick.com/assets/pdfs/Feb07newsletter.pdf