Comments on: Handwritten Letters

By: letters

letters — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 23:18:37 +0000

We would like to say thank you to Tom for mentioning our website handwrittenletters.com
With regards to Stephen’s response to the Handwritten Letters article, we were impressed by the way the volunteers of the animal protection organization replied to all their donations with handwritten letters. People always appreciate the personal touch that is synonymous with the care and attention that goes with handwritten letters. Our website gives many examples of people’s positive reaction upon receiving handwritten letters.

By: Elizabeth Cottrell

Elizabeth Cottrell — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 03:32:45 +0000

Wonderful post, and I’ll take these tips back to the community foundation on whose board I serve.

I feel so passionately about this topic that I started a Facebook Group called Revive the art of personal note writing! (Yes, the irony of doing this on Facebook did not escape me). I’d love to have you and your readers join us: http://bit.ly/rJq9h

By: Stephen Best

Stephen Best — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 12:41:12 +0000

I work with a modestly sized animal protection organization based in Toronto, Ontario. The organization lacks the capital to fund major prospecting campaigns. Consequently, it has been imperative that as few supporters as possible become “lapsed.”

Over a decade ago, we implemented a policy of thanking every donation with a hand written note. A core of volunteers comes in every day to do just that. They are “paid” with a wonderful, vegan lunch and good companionship. All donations, even the smallest, are thanked, by the volunteers, with hand written notes signed by the volunteers, on the day they come in. They are mailed back, in a hand addressed envelope with a live stamp, to the donor on the same day.

Interestingly, these notes also produce donations. The whole thank you process is a profitable exercise.

Absent any acquisition, the organization has grown, albeit modestly, and has increased bequests. It also has built up a large monthly donor base.

Groups that are not thanking supporters with hand written notes are foregoing one of the most effective donor retention strategies available.

Moreover, on purely personal and human level, donors deserve, at the very least, a truly sincere and thoughtful thank you.