The one-word secret to great relationships - and great marketing
Answer? Gratitude.
What if your annual report were a Gratitude Report? What if you told stories about what your supporters did rather than trumpeting what you did?
It might look like this. This is a real masterpiece of gratitude. And it inspires generosity.
How do you tap your inner generous spirit? Here’s your checklist.
1. Give away: Give away everything you can and it will pay off. For example, at Network for Good, we give away free training, free newsletters and free fundraising and marketing tips. Our sales and customer service staff give generously of their time, never rushing someone off the phone. This makes quite a few people love us – and they go on to buy, recommend or evangelize our paid services. Which pays off in the long run. If we tried to nickel and dime nonprofits, they would not feel the same way and we’d have fewer funds in the long run. Keep this approach in mind if you’re a membership or services organization.
2. Give thanks. Spend a lot more time thanking donors and reporting on their impact than asking them for more money. Make them feel treasured rather than going after their treasures. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: the number one reason donors quit supporting an organization is how they were treated by the organization. They hate too many appeals, not enough thanks and a lack of information on impact.
3. Give credit. It’s not enough to be grateful. Give your donors the credit for everything you do. Don’t say, “with your donation, we did xyz;” say, “you did xyz.” Don’t say “we’re so great,” say “you’re so great.” Tell your donors they are doing good works every day of the week through their support of you. This turns donors into owners of your mission, and you can’t get more powerful than that. Pride Foundation - great job in showing how this is done.
I actually did that one year - purely by accident. The insanely run organization I had just started with told me, a few days after I’d begun, that “OMG!! We need an annual report - like yesterday!” Then I learned that, owing to the organization having changed their computer systems the preceding year, there weren’t the usual hard statistics our annual report was based upon.
So, the entire annual report became one of gratitude. I interviewed donors, clients, staff - even foundations who had supported our work. It was a beautiful piece and the donors loved it!