A lovely and unexpected “thank you”
Posted by Gayle Gifford on June 3, 2009
Last night I heard a lovely story of an unexpected and thoughtful thank you from a nonprofit to one of its supporters. I thought you’d enjoy hearing it as well.
I was facilitating a workshop on donor and member renewals. (More about that in a future post). The participants, who were largely board members and some staff from environmental organizations, were exploring their own experiences with organizations they contributed too.
During our conversation, I asked people to share experiences they had as donors or members — in particular, experiences that really stood out, good or bad.
One of the participants shared this story:
His wife, an artist, was interviewed by the local newspaper. During the interview (and mentioned in the article), she shared her fondness for a particular repertory theatre which she said was one of the things she loved about this State.
Not too much later, the couple attended a play at the named theatre. As they arrived, they noticed an envelope on their seat. Inside the envelope was a note to his wife from the theatre, thanking her for mentioning her love of this theatre in the newspaper article. Also inside was a gift certificate for coffee and dessert after the show at a nearby restaurant.
An unexpected and lovely thank you. A real show of gratitude. Needless to say, this particular act made a lasting impression… and really cemented the love of a fan.
Very nice.
Tags: donor stewardship, gratitude, stewardship, thank you
This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009 at 1:32 pm and is filed under Communicating, Fundraising, Tidbits. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Steve Smith Says:
Great example of how a very personal touch can leave a strong impression. Just very thoughtful. Not extravagant.