As Valentine’s Day approaches, you may be thinking of special ways to show your love and appreciation to key people in your life including your spouse, your children, your staff, etc. The day is also a great opportunity to share some love and appreciation with your donors. And…since it is likely to be totally unexpected, it will stand out to them and make your organization memorable.
BUT….and this is a BIG BUT. There is to be no fundraising or solicitation on Valentine’s Day. Use this opportunity as a way to say thanks without asking for anything else. Your donors will be so amazed that you thought of them that you will stand out in their minds and the next donation will come.
Below you will find some quick, inexpensive ways to let your donors know how much they mean to you.
Choose one or two to use with your donors. The key to success is to know which donors should receive which Valentine. Individualize your appreciation because just as you never know what you are going to get in a box of chocolates, every donor is different and has different interests and reasons for giving.
- Go Old School. Get out the red construction paper, the markers and the lace doilies. Make Valentines and send them to your donors, or better yet, hand deliver them. Does your organization serve children or youth? Perhaps you could get them involved.
- Telephone Calls. Make some brief phone calls to donors just to let them know you appreciate them. If you have cell numbers for your donors, you could text them instead.
- Social Media. Design a special post that includes a beautiful graphic and a special message for your social media platforms that tells your donors thank you. (This one should be done for all donors, perhaps in addition to any other strategy you use).
- Get in the kitchen. Have a lot of local donors? Get in your kitchen and bake a batch of cookies – is there a cookie cutter that goes along with the mission of your organization? Wrap them in small packs of six or so and hand deliver them to your donors on Valentine’s Day….or the day after.
- If you can’t think of anything else to do, there is always chocolate.
Each of these ideas will cost you very little money, if any. But, they will all go along way toward donor retention. Remember, it is less work to keep the donors you have then to identify and nurture new ones.
Your goal in this effort is to:
Stand out! Most organizations will not remember their donors on Valentine’s Day. Make a statement by being the one that does.
Remind donors that you appreciate them and think they are special.
Valentine’s Day is a great opportunity to show your donors they mean the world to you. Take some time to let them know this year. I promise you that your effort will bring lots of good will back and will bring in additional donations in future months.
