This Thanksgiving week, you may be reflecting on what you’re grateful for in your own life. This year, I’m especially grateful that I’m able to work with clients that are doing so much good in the world, and that I’m able to make a living doing something I love. As you reflect on your own gratitude, have you thought about gratitude for your supporters and donors?
Because this is also a time of year when it’s easy to treat our donors like walking credit cards. It’s the season of big fundraising goals, flashy matching gifts, and an ever-larger bombardment of email appeals. As we watch the numbers, sometimes we may forget that our supporters are real, living people. In our fundraising zeal, we might mentally dismiss those who can’t or don’t donate, discounting the other ways they show support.
It’s common to send an email or two this time of year expressing gratitude to our email lists. I’ve seen (and written) a lot of these over the years, and often it’s a routine item on the communications calendar: this is the week we’re supposed to say thanks. The content is usually short, often almost an afterthought. It’s a performative act of gratitude, the fundraising equivalent of saying thanks because your mom told you to. We might mean it, but we do it because we’re supposed to, and we hope it’ll generate some warm feelings and inspire donations on Giving Tuesday.
So today, consider what an expression of genuine gratitude looks like for your org. We do feel honestly grateful for our donors, even if we forget to at times. In daily life, gratitude is often spontaneous, unexpected, and sweet. For a nonprofit, that could mean being better about reporting on the results that our donors helped achieve. It could mean recognizing and highlighting a volunteer’s special contribution. It could mean a phone call or a handwritten note – not to raise money, but just to say thanks.
What does a genuine expression of gratitude look like at your organization?