The power of a good thank you letter

I received a thank you letter from Refugee Action in the post today, for a donation I forgot about. And it’s brought home to me once and for all the power of a good thank you letter.

We’ve been working on donor journeys with a few clients recently. Questions often come up like: ‘why bother sending a thank you letter as well as an email, isn’t that duplication?’ or ‘is it a good use of funds to send a thank you letter to someone who donates under £10?’

The letter I received today has helped me craft the perfect response to the short-term thinking that lies behind those questions.

To be completely honest with you, I don’t even remember making this donation. When I opened the letter, I wondered first whether someone had made a donation on my behalf. Or maybe the charity had made a mistake in sending me a thank you letter.

I searched Refugee Action in my emails, to jog my memory, and sure enough there was a donation receipt and thank you email. On 22nd December, I donated £5 at the end of an online quiz about the ridiculous and impossible questions asked during asylum-seeker interviews.

It was a powerful engagement tool, and when Refugee Action asked me for a donation at the end I was happy to give. But since then, Christmas holidays, New Year celebrations, back to work blues have all happened. None of us are sitting around thinking about the charities who asked us to donate - life gets in the way.

I’ve received several emails from Refugee Action since 22nd December, some I had opened and some that were still unread. But none of them stopped me in my tracks like this thank you letter did.

Thank you letter and welcome pack from Refugee Action

What made this such a good moment in my donor journey?

As well as the letter, I received:

1) a thank you postcard which I’ve put up on my office wall;

2) a newsletter with updates on their work which I’ve saved to read over the weekend;

3) a card asking me to send some words of welcome to refugees. I’m going to fill it in this evening and send it back by return post.

These are pieces of communications which I can hold in my hands, which ask me to engage by writing a physical message, which I can put on my wall.  I know they are are going to stick in my memory much longer than the digital communications.

But this blog is not an offline vs online polemic – it’s about the importance of doing both well. I donated to Refugee Action in response to an excellent digital engagement action. And I now think of myself as a supporter of Refugee Action because I received a fantastic thank you letter and welcome pack.

Are you doing donor journeys this well? If not, Roots + Wings can help you map out your current journey and identify moments like this where you could improve and add in extra impact. We'll help you ensure that all donors are as impressed with your charity as I am with Refugee Action!

Find out more about Roots + Wings and how we could help you overcome fundraising, communications, or other challenges you’re facing. Contact us on hello@rootsandwings.studio to book a free 30-minute chat.