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The Loyalty Letter
By Lisa Sargent, fundraising copywriter

📍What we're talking about this issue: 
5 gifts your donors give you; 5+ ways to deepen relationships

Photo by Maxime Horlaville on Unsplash

Dear defender of good,

Happy almost June, and welcome to the relaunch of The Loyalty Letter. 

It's been a long time coming, and I'm so glad you're here. Thanks for being a reader!

Which, serendipitously, brings us right into today's topic... 

5 Gifts Your Donors Give You 
(That you may not acknowledge but should)

✍️ By Lisa Sargent
Fundraising copywriter

May 2024

It’s been said since forever that the first gift donors give you is their time.
 
To be fair, it’s sage advice that sounds lovely – and IS lovely.
 
But in truth there are at least 5 gifts your donors choose to give you that have almost zip to do with donations, or even their generous character traits or the values they hold dear.
 

And if you want to deepen relationships with your supporters (you do)...
 

If you want to keep them connected and giving (you do)...
 

If you want them to feel seen and heard and recognized (you do, you do, you do)...

You need to find ways to acknowledge these unsung gifts when you write to your supporters and supporters-to-be, because wonderful results can come of it.
 
How wonderful? 

One example you'll see today led to a 67% lift in response rates for one group of donors – plus boosted response to the appeal that followed, as well.

The Five Unsung Gifts Are:  Attention. Trust. Loyalty. Feedback. Time. Let’s explore.

--> Gift #1: The Gift of Attention

In my world as a fundraising copywriter, Time is not the first gift supporters can give you.

The first gift is Attention.

If you want the gift of my Attention, send your fundraising appeal or newsletter in a direct mail outer envelope that knows its mission: pique my interest enough to open.

Here's one we did back during Covid:

As you can see above, a high-performing outer envelope may or may not mean you use a live stamp (vs indicia). 

 

It may or may not mean you use a closed-face outer (vs window). 

 

It may or may not mean you use a blank (no teaser/photo) envelope. Your outer might include using a teaser, image, color wash, or other strategies.

But it will always mean using a font I can read. It will always mean if you use an image, teaser, etc., it should have something to do with what’s inside – if you make it look urgent, your appeal must be urgent.

It will always mean whatever you write is the truth.

The same goes for email subject lines and preheaders (or no preheader at all). To honor Attention, you’ll need to frontload benefits, use intrigue/curiosity, make it sound human and authentic, and attend to deliverability filters.

Last bit about Attention.

Your job doesn’t stop with the subject line or the outer. Give your readers a clear, compelling path that respects the Gift of Attention right through to the donation and thank-you: doing this consistently helps you build and grow Gift #2.  

--> Gift #2: The Gift of Trust

Trust doesn’t spring from lofty talk about how great your organization is.

You earn the Gift of Trust by being trust-worthy.

When your donors see you do what you say you’ll do with their support... 
 

When you have a record of making that change happen and reporting back on it...

 
When your brand, voice, stories, and message are consistent (and consistently communicated across channels: digital, direct mail, press, etc.)...

That’s how you build Trust.

Trust is the door to all good things. Long-term relationships. Second gifts. Advocates, community champions, and volunteers. Monthly gifts. Legacies (gifts in will).

If you’re not already using the Virtuous Circle of donor communications, also known as Ask-Thank-Report-Repeat, click on over to The Better Fundraising Co and check it out. 

For one nonprofit we worked with, our virtuous circle looked like this (full, free, 47-page Nana Murphy case study is here):

Then follow Ask-Thank-Report-Repeat as best you can with your donor communications, because if you do, you will build the Gift of Trust as a happy by-product of better results.

[Side note: Designer Sandie and I often use a base 4X4 donor communications plan: four appeals, four really good supporter newsletters, heartfelt thank-you letters for all. You’ll cross channels to digital, email and so forth – you might add reminder packs or need to start with two donor newsletters and grow as you go] 
*** Want more on this? Just reply to this email and let me know. We’ll do a deep dive for you this year.

Another way to honor the Gift of Trust? Say (or write) it outright:

• Thank you for your trust.
• Thank you for the trust you’ve placed in us. 
• Thank you for trusting us to do what’s right.

That might feel trite the first few times you try it. 

Trust me, it isn’t.

Legendary neuromarketer Roger Dooley reported on a study that found adding, “You can trust us to get the job done.” for an auto service firm ad jumped their trust scores by 33%.

[Source: https://www.neurosciencemarketing.com/blog/articles/ten-words.htm] 

--> Gift #3: The Gift of Loyalty.

Oh, the Gift of Loyalty.

Supporters who love you, and continue to love you for years and years, are steadfast friends who deserve to be seen in the best, most beautiful ways.

I’ll share three of those here (more in my upcoming book, you can get on the notification list here, anytime... hopefully out this year):

(1) Prime loyalty from the very first thank-you letter. 

I usually write something like:
 

Thank you for taking the time to give. 

I hope you’re with us for years to come.

(2) Consider creating special supporter badges for loyalty thresholds – 5, 10, 25 years, etc. 
We did this for one organization – on a newsletter, no less – and the response rate for their 25-year supporter segment jumped 67% to that issue. It looked like this (find the mini-case-study here):

(3) One more, not mine – ten years ago, The Agitator reported on a renewal letter created by Schultz & Williams that “personalized the letter to the year the donor first joined and what was happening then.” S&W’s then-VP Jessica Harrington went on to write how the letter linked past accomplishments to the donor’s support, concluding: “Revenue is up 54%.” 
[Source: https://agitator.thedonorvoice.com/retention-win-1-say-thank-you/] 

--> Gift #4: The Gift of Feedback

Once upon a time I was a freelance fundraising copywriter for an organization going through an awkward transition that was covered in the local media, and that supporters understandably had a lot of questions about.

The nonprofit’s reaction was to keep the main phone line on automatic voicemail, 24/7. 

Yep. You read that right: they just... didn’t answer their phone.

I call that a lost opportunity – and a big one. Maybe your caller thinks you mail too much. Ask her if she’d prefer to receive just the newsletters and a holiday letter. Maybe they have questions about a transition. Keep talking points by the phone so anyone who answers can explain it. And document who calls, and how that goes.

[Great tips from Claire Axelrad: https://bloomerang.co/blog/ask-an-expert-whats-the-best-way-to-deal-with-disgruntled-donors/] 

More on feedback, this time the positive kind. 

When you can, actively ask for feedback. On reply forms, on inserts you create specifically to ask supporters to return a message, poem, or prayer, in newsletters where your CEO answers letters from the supporter mailbox.

Here’s a super simple one we do, directly on the reply form:

You can modify the copy to suit your work. 

You’ll be delighted at what people send, and they’ll be delighted you cared enough to ask for their Gift of Feedback.

--> Gift #5: The Gift of Time

The Gift of Time brings us full circle back to the Gift of Attention. 

Because when you hold my Attention, I give you my Time.

It’s not a hard thing to acknowledge the Gift of Time: any one of us can do it. When you do, though, people are inclined to give you more of it.

Again, you can say it outright: thank you for your time today. Or, you can try:

• If you’ve a few moments now, [respects time in advance]
• If you have a just a bit more time now, [keeps reader in control]
• Thank you for reading today. [being grateful for their gift of time and attention]
• Thank you for taking a moment to learn more about [name of topic]
• Thank you for your time and consideration.

All of which brings me to my thanks today, for you... 

... For the work you do to make the world a better place. For taking the time to read today. And for being a Loyalty Letter subscriber.

I'll see you in mid-June, and may your words work always for good.
Write with great heart!  

Lisa ✍️

PS. Six posts right now, over on the SargentWrites! blog. Not a lot yet, I know. But if you're truly nerdy about fundraising copywriting, craft, and creativity, you'll find posts there about literary devices, passive and active voice, and more. If you want to see something featured, shoot me an email. I'll do my best. Thx! :-)