Holly Rustick is a world-renowned grant writing expert and Amazon bestselling author.
Holly has been coaching grant writers how to run successful 5-6 figure businesses since 2017.
With two decades of grant writing and nonprofit experience, Holly is a popular keynote speaker for events all over the world, podcast host of the Top-Ranked Grant Writing podcast, a former university instructor, and is past president of the Guam Women’s Chamber of Commerce. She is constantly booked out to run trainings to help grant writers grow capacity, increase funding, and advance mission.
Saying thank you sometimes feels like a warm, fuzzy thing to do around the holidays. Sometimes those holidays are just the reminders that we need (along with the Netflix Christmas specials) to say the big, “Thank You!”
But what if I told you that you could increase your nonprofit organization’s revenue with existing resources just by saying thank you throughout the year?
And the best part?
You are grateful.
You are grateful for your donors.
You are grateful for your sponsors.
You are grateful for your partners.
You are grateful for your grant funding sources.
But the problem is you might not tell them you are grateful.
Research shows that showing gratitude to donors, especially on a consistent basis, keeps up the level of the donor’s happiness levels with your nonprofit.
It’s also common sense. How do you feel when you are thanked properly and kept up-to-date with information that you are passionate about? Good, right? Like you want to keep staying involved.
So let’s look at 20 Ways Your Nonprofit Can Show Gratitude all Year Long
As soon as your nonprofit organization gets a new donor (whether that is a one-time donor or a recurring donor), send them a Thank You email. You can easily automate this so it’s all set up for you.
Want to send an automated Thank You Video? Check out Bonjoro with these amazing (and quick) videos you can send out.
Be sure to send out a newsletter to your donors to keep them updated on all the good your nonprofit organization is doing throughout the year. Only asking them to give on Giving Tuesday or once per year doesn’t form the best relationship.
But a newsletter is something you can send to all your donors so they are reminded of the work that their donation helps.
Extra Hot Tip: Give them an ability to uplevel in the P.S. line to a higher donation amount or to become a recurring donor.
You can definitely use software to automate this for you if you have a large number of donors. This is a great way to show your gratitude on one of their happiest days of the year!
Just like thanking your donors as soon as they give to your nonprofit organization, it is great to say thank you to your new sponsor.
A sponsor is normally a company or business that wants to give to your nonprofit for a certain event, campaign, or project. They will become a sponsor by selecting a certain level of giving (think, 5K race or Gala) and then sign a contract.
As soon as your nonprofit gets this sponsorship contract signed, you want to reach out and give them a small gift (or at the very least a handwritten letter).
Another way you can stand out and show your gratitude is to deliver a small gift or video to the sponsor’s annual board meeting or their anniversary. This is a great way to appreciate them on a day that is important to them.
Just like your donors, your sponsors want to see the good that your nonprofit is doing in the community (and not just when you are asking them for money). They want to be reminded of why they support you and applaud your efforts.
Sending a newsletter to sponsors is a great way to showcase your work and to keep you on their radar. Keeping them up-to-date is an act of gratefulness!
Putting your sponsor’s logos on all your marketing materials is a great way to show gratitude. You can put it on your Zoom backdrop, on your vehicles, and so many other creative ways.
To see some creative other ways to demonstrate saying, “Thank You,” click here.
Your nonprofit can share short “Thank You” videos for your sponsors throughout the year and post on social media. Make sure you tag your sponsors.
This is a great way to remind them you are thinking about them.
Partners can include other stakeholders that may not be a direct financial source. Think of other nonprofits that you ask for letters of support when writing a grant proposal.
However, having these sorts of partnerships is vital to your nonprofit’s overall success and can generate revenue by partnering on events, co-writing grants, and so much more.
Sometimes the partnerships aren’t created with anything formulized (like a Memorandum of Understanding), but sometimes they are. When they are more organic, and don’t have an official start date, then just remembering to send them a gift at their nonprofit’s anniversary, or an important event, is great!
When they are more formal and have a start date, then send them an onboarding email!
Just like your sponsors, it’s great to send a random thank you throughout the year or (also) during the holidays. Remember, this isn’t the only time you say thank you, though.
It’s wonderful to send your partners a video testimony saying the way that your nonprofit has worked with them. They can then use this on their website or social media.
Be sure to ask if they will do one for you, too!
A great way to demonstrate your partnerships is also by sharing their fundraising events and other things they do, on your social media platforms. This way their nonprofit is exposed to a new audience. Be sure to tag them, and ask them to reciprocate!
So this is more for grant funding sources that you have already secured. Why send ‘Thank Yous” when you don’t have to compete for the funding? Because this helps develop the relationship and the better your relationship the more likely they are to help you longer and invite you to other open applications.
Be sure to say thank you when you sign the grant contract! Even a quick email saying how excited you are to work with them can go a long way!
This is a great way to keep them up-to-date with your program and show them behind-the-scenes. You can even just use your smartphone. It doesn’t have to be a super-expensive production!
Grant funders often share their programs with other potential nonprofit’s (who want to compete for the next cycle of that grant) and to their stakeholders. A great way to show gratitude is to share a webinar, video, or blog with them that they can share with others.
This way they will showcase your project, as well.
For most grants, you will need to create annual reports. But creating a little monthly report to show the number of people impacted, money spent, etc. and including some pictures is a great way to stay connected to your funding source. It doesn’t need to take a lot of your time, and actually will save you a lot of time when you write up the annual report since you’ve been tracking the data through these mini-reports throughout the year!
Creating a social media post, from time to time, and tagging that grant funding source is a great way to show gratitude and stay top of mind.
If you purchase items from a grant, it’s great if you can put the logo or name of the grant funding source on those products! This is especially important for larger ticket items, such as vehicles, buildings, etc.
But you can even put their logo on other parts of your program that they sponsor (i.e. if they are funding personnel, a great way is to put that logo on that Zoom background).
I hope you enjoyed these 19 tips, plus the 1 Hot Bonus to equal 20 tips!
Tag me on social media on how you thank your donors, sponsors, partners, and grant funding sources :)
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