Thanking your donors – Templates
There are so many worthy causes out there, so if someone has taken the time and effort to donate to your fundraising campaign then it’s critical to make sure they get a sincere and timely thank you.
Research tells us that by simply thanking a donor, you have a 50 percent better chance of receiving another donation next time you ask! And you have a 40 percent chance of increasing the donation amount if you let your donors know how their money was spent, how much it was appreciated, and the practical and emotional impact their donations have had on you or your organisation.
Use the below templates as a guide to thank your donors and increase the likelihood of getting another donation down the track!
Email thanks
Received lots of donations? Use an email to hit all your donors at once
When you’re saying thank you make sure you cover 3 bases:
- Who are you thanking? Make it personal and use the donors’ name
- Which project did they support? This is key especially if your organisation has a number of different campaigns.
- How will you turn their donation/gift into an impact? Like we mentioned, letting the donor know specifically how their donation has helped will make it more likely they donate again. Make sure you tell them what you have used their hard earned cash on!
Copy and paste this email and edit the fields to make it specific for your club:
Subject: Thank you from <the Bulldog’s Soccer and Netball Club>
Dear <Sally>,
I am writing to say a huge thank you for your donation of <$100> to <the Bulldog’s soccer team>.
Your generous donation <has allowed> us to <purchase much needed new balls and cones for training>.
We are anticipating a great season this year and thanks to your support we have all the tools we need to be successful. Our next game is next Saturday at 10am – we’d love for you to attend so the team can give their thanks in person and you can see the equipment you helped us purchase in action!
Thank you again for your generosity,
Sincerely,
<Hannah
Club Manager The Bulldog’s Soccer and Netball Club>
Social Media Thanks
It’s important to make sure your donor is comfortable with being thanked publicly before you thank them online. Once you’ve got the all-clear from the donor, you can post online, use the below templates as a base. If you don’t want to name donors you can do a general post and just talk about the impact donations have had on your club.
Make sure to include an explanation as to which project was supported and the impact the donation had. As a rule, always try an include a photo or a video in your post this gets way more engagement than text alone.
- Thanks to the generosity of donors like <Jane Jones> we were able to purchase <all new training tops> for our <girl’s hockey team>, Jane’s donation through the Australian Sports Foundation was completely tax-deductible and made a huge difference to our club <Check out the girls in their new kits at training last night>
<INSERT PHOTO> - Thanks to all the generous people who have made a donation to our <rowing development project> in the last month. This week we purchased <a new quad> which will be used at tomorrow’s competition! Make sure you come down to <Lake Burley Griffin> to see it in action <INSERT PHOTO>
Major Donors
If you get a very generous donation it’s always good practice to thank them personally through a phone call from a key club person like the club president or head coach. A great idea is to record a short video of the team thanking the donor and sending it to them, this makes the donor feel good and know that their generosity was appreciated.
