Donor communications are not just for occasional asks. To strengthen you donor relationships it is important to include them in updates about your project so they can feel as they are part of your work iA successful donation ask comes after months of relationship building.
Start your communications with donors, both general and personal, 6-9 months before the December Matching Campaign.
KEY STRATEGY:
Do not rely on either ONLY writen communications or ONLY personal communications.
Use a 1-2 strategy of sending out a general email, and follow up with in-person contact. Whenever you send a general update email, with or without a donation ask, follow up with personal contact asking your supporters what they thought, did they enjoy the update, and give them extra updates and details.
Or, when first contacting someone personally, give them a preview of the general highlights you will be sending in the email and tell them you will be sending out this communication next month, next week – when they receive it, they will have been anticipating it.
Repeated exposure to a topic or an ask is essential for supporters to feel connected.
General Donor Communications
A monthly or every other month email with updates about the project. This should have positive updates and personal stories of project participants. Positive, uplifting and inspiring stories are key to inspiring donors to participate.
- Project staff stories
- Project Impact stories – how the project affected those it is intended to serve
- Examples:
- For a school: feature a paragraph about a teacher, or administrative staff, and a story about a student, as well as a story about improvements in the school
- For a garden: both a story about someone who works in the garden, and a story about a client of the garden, who purchases flowers, or fruits and is served by the garden’s production.
Personal Donor Communications
For these special supporters who express more interest in your project:
- Supporters who have expressed special interest in your project
- Supporters who are personally connected to you or other project staff
- Supporters who have a special connection to the project from their past.
Actions to take for special supporters:
- Send personal photos or a short phone video clip every 2-4 weeks with 1-3 sentences describing the photo or video, to let them know you’re thinking of them and grateful for their support.
- Get in touch with them through your personal email, text, WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram or phone and start cultivating the relationship.
Regular Mail – General and Personal Contacts
Get mailing addresses for all donors and as a minimum – during July/August send them something in the mail – examples:
- A postcard
- A craft made by your project
- A sticker
- A dried flower
- Anything that will remind them of your project