Tips for Keeping New Donors After a Giving Day

Giving days bring charities bushels of new donors. To keep cultivating them after the big event, Jeannie Howell, former director of nonprofit ventures and strategic impact at the Sacramento Region Community Foundation, offers advice based on her experience with the annual Big Day of Giving her organization oversees. In 2018, the 24-hour event raked in $7.4 million for 587 charities, up from $7.2 million the previous year.

Here are Howell’s tips for what to do when the campaign ends:

Thank donors. It seems obvious, but you’d be surprised how many charities drop the ball, she says. “The thank-you part is huge,” Howell says, “We still see donors respond to our surveys saying no one thanked them. A lot of nonprofits rely on the [online donation] system to thank them, but we tell charities, ‘Those are your donors.’ "

Greet your new supporters. Send them a welcome packet that includes detailed information about the charity’s work. Or go bigger, Howell suggests, and meet new donors in person: “Some charities do exclusive thank-you receptions,”

Tell donors what you did with their gifts. Now more than ever, people who make charitable contributions want to know what impact they’ve had. Follow up to show how the money was used. “One thing we ask on our donor surveys is, ‘Are you planning to give later in the year?’ That percentage is always up there. It’s important to follow up.”