Ten Tips For Better Thank You Letters

via Donor Power Blog:

1.) Get the letter out quickly.
2.) Relate your Thank You letter to the ask.
3.) Tell the donor what you will do with their money.
4.) Use a real signature.
5.) Have the ED or President go through the letters and add personal notes.
6.) Add a reply envelope.
7.) Include year to date or lifetime giving data.
8.) Make it clear that the letter is also a receipt.
9.) Include an offer to tour your facility or program site.
10.) Include the name and contact info of someone the donor can call with questions.

New Links

Donor Power Blog is a blog built for fundraising professionals in the nonprofit sector. Now, you may be asking yourself, "Why is Ray linking to nonprofit help sites?" In my personal opinion, I think sometimes the only real difference between political organizations and nonprofits is the way they report taxes. Were all in the "mission" field and 90% of the time lessons that nonprofits have learned over the years are ones that can be directly adapted to the political world. In fact, many of the new links you'll see me link to are geared towards nonprofits. Donor Power Blog is full of great information about raising money. A lot of time is focused on new fundraising technology and tactics, which I believe makes this blog extremely valuable.

Be Relevant! is a blog designed for email marketing tips. The author is Tamara Gielen, an email marketer for eBay Belgium. She has great tips about effective email marketing. There's all kinds of great practical information for any progressive group (particularly DECs) which has a mailing list and wants to use it effectively.