Tis the season of giving when we all scramble to figure out just what exactly we should get those special people in our lives, and if you are anything like me, you feel like you took the easy way out when you give a gift card.

Are your donors on your gift list this year? Here are two reasons why they should be:

First, your donors love to hear from you – seriously! I am sure you have probably heard someone say, “The only time I hear from United Way is when they are asking for money.” You know what that means – you need to be communicating with your donors throughout the year in addition to when you are asking them for money. When we ask local United Way donors how often they want or expect communication from United Way about their contribution, nearly half say four times a year, and another one-in-four donors say at least twice a year.

Second, you can bet your donors are hearing from all the other charitable organizations they support. December is the month with the highest level of charitable giving, which means lots of charities are actively communicating with your donors now.

When it comes to what to give your donors, you don’t have to take the easy way out, because we know exactly what your donors want this year:

Gratitude

According to Merrian-Webster, the essential meaning of gratitude is a feeling of appreciation and thanks. Quite simply, the gift you are going to give your donors is to make them feel appreciated.

The secret to making your donors feel appreciated is to make it all about the donor. United Ways have an uncanny ability to talk about themselves all the time. United Way communication commonly uses words like “We” and “Our,” referring to United Way, instead of “You” and “Your,” referring to the donor. If you want to see what I mean, try the We/Our Versus You/Your Test.

Expressing gratitude must use “You” and “Your” language, such as:

• Your contribution to United Way helped 45 families find a permanent home this year.

• By giving to United Way, you provided thousands of meals to hungry children in our community.

• With your support, 118 children were able to attend Camp iRock and are now reading at grade level

Note that we are not talking about what United Way did, we are talking about what the donor’s contribution to United Way accomplished. Another trap United Ways commonly fall into is talking about how the donor’s contribution helped achieve the campaign goal. You are NOT expressing gratitude when you say things like “Without your support we would not have made our goal.” Donors did not give to United Way so United Way could reach their campaign goal. The campaign goal is United Way’s goal, not the donor’s goal. Express your gratitude for your donors by sharing with them how they have helped people in their community.

A good way to show a donor how their contribution made a difference is to tell a story about someone who was helped by their contribution. A good story will tell why someone needed help, the help that was provided, and how their life was changed because of the help they received. For example, you could start with a first sentence like: “Your United Way contribution helped Sarah and her 16-month old son, Thomas, find a home after leaving an abusive relationship. They had been homeless for six months when . . .”

Simple

Expressing gratitude does not need to be fancy, or even require you to do anything more than you might already be doing. For example, express gratitude in your tax receipt. You probably have plenty of room on your tax receipt to add a couple of “You’ and “Your” sentences about the donor’s contribution and even share a story or two. If you are currently sending an e-newsletter to your donors, take a moment to personalize it and share with the donor the impact of their contribution. Some United Ways actually take the time to send hand-written thank yous, especially to their leadership donors. Just add a couple of sentences to express your gratitude.

A couple of United Ways have taken expressing gratitude to a higher level by preparing “gratitude reports.” These reports take more time and effort to prepare, but also provide more opportunity to express your gratitude to your donors. Check out these samples from United Way of Pickens County, and United Way of Bruce Grey. If you want to see what you are up against from other organizations, just Google “gratitude report” and I am sure you’ll be inspired.

Now that you know what to give your donors this year, I’ll let you in on another secret – they’ll appreciate getting the same gift from you next year too! From all of us at Perspectives, we wish you and yours a Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and all the best in 2022!