When your organization receives a gift, you send a thank you letter. Perhaps the donor has requested to be subscribed to your newsletter, which is sent maybe once a quarter. Other than that, do you reach out to your donors? Are you afraid you’re talking to them too much?
It’s a fine balance between too much outreach and not enough. On one hand, you don’t want your donors to forget about you, and it happens in even those with the best of intentions. People’s lives are busy. In the hustle and bustle of juggling jobs and family along with everything else, something as simple as sending a check slips through the cracks.
Studies have shown that it’s important to reach out to donors at least once a month. That’s right—every 30 days—has been proven to be the best time frame for donor cultivation. However just as important as the outreach cycle is the method. The communication doesn’t have to be the same way each time, and in fact, is probably best that it isn’t.
For example, a letter that came through the mail may get put on a desk to be dealt with later. But, if communications alternate between email, postal mail, a newsletter either digital or postal, along with social media contacts, then there’s a good chance that you’ll reach your donors at least once.
The best way to get started is to think of a donor cultivation strategy for your organization. FundRaiser can help you do this with the ability to send both postal mail, as well as email, directly from the program. If you currently only reach out to donors when you thank them or send appeals, think about how often you do so. It could be that you’re close to the every 30 days suggested time frame and only need to slightly adjust your process. Or, perhaps you’ll find new opportunities to reach out to donors and cultivate even greater giving.
If you'd like more help on creating and sending correspondence, we welcome you to contact FundRaiser Technical Support at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 800-543-4131 or register for our Word Processing/Mail Merge class.