What are your favorite ways to report back to your donors on the good work that has been accomplished thanks to their generosity?
I’m doing a free webinar at CharityHowTo this afternoon at 3 pm ET on this topic.
Here are 14 of my favorite suggestions — add yours in the comments. If you have a good example to share that illustrates any of these, I would love to hear about that too! I’ll be writing more about this list here on the blog and in my upcoming book.
1. Personal, friendly thank you letters. Write like one human to another — that’s what you and your donors are after all (not 501c3s and ATMs)!
2. Photos in thank you cards. Photos are incredibly powerful, especially close-ups.
3. Donor-centered newsletter articles. Tom Ahern is teaching a new e-clinic for us on this topic in September.
4. Client or impact testimonials. Let the people who benefit talk about your results.
5. Dramatic stories. Tell us the emblematic story of your success.
6. Timeline or time lapse. Show big progress one step at a time.
7. Real-time dashboards. Report back in real-time (or close) with updated data on your website.
8. Before and afters. Nothing works better to show change than before and after photos and stories.
9. Behind the scenes. Using video or great storytelling, take us behind the scenes where the real action is.
10. Executive director updates. Invite your donors to “exclusive” conference calls with leadership.
11. Infographics. Share results graphically.
12. Results of outside evaluators. Share in plain English what the experts found.
13. “New and improved” annual reports. Go for a strong message in a short format.
14. Video annual reports. A great way to share success!
Please share your ideas and examples in the comments.
