Creating an Airtight Donor Acknowledgement Process
Appropriately acknowledging your donor’s gift is one of the most important parts of the fundraising process, and can go a long way toward cultivating a repeat gift (especially from a first-time donor). It is often too easy, however, to let the processes around thanking and acknowledging donations be haphazard. When that happens, sometimes things fall through the cracks, and it can be difficult to bring new team members up to speed on acknowledgement procedures during onboarding.
Whether you’re feeling scattered and looking to set a process, or you just want to tighten up an existing protocol, we’ve got three recommendations to get you started.
Pick a point person. One person on your team should be project managing your acknowledgement process. That means receiving the mail,, making necessary copies and scans, giving the donation information to the person who will add it to your CRM, alerting any staff members who should reach out to make personal thank you calls or emails, and ensuring that the acknowledgement letter is written, signed and sent. Even if most of the responsibilities in this process are farmed out to other team members, someone should be overseeing the entire process.
Assign a Time Frame. The ideal time frame for thanking a donor is within 48 hours from the time the gift is received. Separating the expression of thanks from the formal tax acknowledgement will add a step to your process, but may also ensure that you have a better chance of hitting that 48 hour deadline. Perhaps you decide that donors receive an informal thank you (via email, phone, or handwritten note) within 24 hours of making their gift, and then the tax acknowledgement goes out within 7 days. Whatever you do, make a decision and stick to it (and put your project manager in charge of tracking on it!).
Be specific about your delivery method. Some acknowledgements are sent via email, some are printed and sent in the mail. Some organizations do both, depending on the size of the gift. Review your internal capabilities and staff capacity and make a clear determination as to which approach you are going to take. The same goes for the more heartfelt thank-yous that don’t outline a donor’s tax implications. Perhaps every gift at a certain level or above warrants a thank you phone call from the Executive Director or Board Chair. Maybe certain restricted gifts are thanked via email by a member of the development team or program staff. Whatever you decide to do, the key is to be consistent.
Every organization is different, but if you take the time to set some protocol around the who, when, and how of your acknowledgement process, we’re confident that you can build an airtight system that works for you!