In this issue:

• Share your beneficiary thank-you notes with your donors 🌻
• Randomly yours: to inspire and recharge you

Wednesday, November 2, 2022

Hi Reader,

This idea couldn't be simpler . . .

If you're getting thank-you notes from your beneficiaries, don't keep them to yourselves.

Share them with your donors!

Here's how:

Share your beneficiary thank-you notes with your donors 🌻

If you get handwritten thank-you notes and cards:

1. Choose a few good ones.​
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2. Print color copies of them.​
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3. Insert the copies in a direct mail impact package with a quick note of explanation.

Here's an example. It was sent to us by Humanitarian Service Project after Julie visited their headquarters, saw dozens of thank-you notes on a bulletin board, and suggested they be shared with donors.

The DM package we received from HSP included . . .

A Homemade Personalized Thank-You Card from HSP's Executive Director:

Which Opened Up . . .

To Reveal The Following 3 Beneficiary Thank-Yous:

Thank-You #1 (Outside):

Thank-You #1 (Inside):

Thank-You #2 (Outside):

Thank-You #2 (Inside):

Thank-You #3 (Full Page, 1-Sided):

All of the above notes are artifacts that represent impact in its purest form. They're full of love and gratitude from wonderful people, so they'll fill your wonderful donors' wonderful hearts with love and gratitude too.

(Yes, your donors will be grateful for the gratitude!)

But what if you don't receive any handwritten thank-you notes?

In that case, consider collecting every thank-you / testimonial your organization receives from now on: from beneficiaries, volunteers, board members, and donors.

Take selected excerpts (even if they're from emails) and paste them into separate documents. Format them with larger fonts and a header such as, "A Note of Gratitude."

Print them out and share them as explained above.

Whenever you're doing good, your donors are right there with you — in heart, in spirit, in mission.

So share with your donors the thanks you've received — help them to really feel the impact they're making, together with you!

Randomly yours: to inspire and recharge you

For your brain, heart, and funny bone...

• Fundraisingly Informative — Weird fundraising rules that once haunted me by Jeff Brooks (a blog post that debunks baseless advice having to do with things like fundraising words not to use, colors not to use, and envelope sizes not to use)
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• Audibly Thought-Provoking — Dolly Chugh: How to Drive Social Change via Remarkable People (a 57-minute podcast episode in which you'll learn about how to let go of being a "good person" on order to be a better person and do your part to help drive social change)
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• Sportingly Funny — The 5 Stages of Pickleball via Holderness Family Laughs (an amusing 4-minute YouTube video from Kim and Penn Holderness, portraying how you might encounter pickleball and go from "Stage 1: Judgment" to "Stage 5: Obsession")
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• Astutely Observational — 17 Verrrrry Subtle Things That Actually Reveal A Lot About Someone by Liz Richardson (a Buzzfeed article on how to read people's character via their unintentional cues)
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• Usefully Techy — Name Drop (a site where you can record yourself pronouncing your name and get a link to the recording — which you can include in your email signature, social media bio, website About page, and so on)

Until next time: May your hard work garner many thanks, and your sharing lift your donors' hearts . . . so the cycle of gratitude is complete!

We'll see you in your inbox soon!!

All our best,

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​PS: You deserve to raise lots more money for your good cause. Why not recruit an "all-star team" — The Case Writers — to take on your donor communications?

Imagine having all of these people on your side: Tom Ahern, John Lepp, Jen Love, Jeff Brooks, Maggie Cohn, Leah Eustace, Andrea Hopkins, Aimee Vance, and us (Julie & Brett).

Interested? Contact us, risk-free.

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