Keeping in Touch with Your Donors

We get to know our members of Congress by finding reasons to reach out and by personally getting in front of them a few times a year. Did you know the same principle leads to successful fundraising?

Sometimes, groups are understandably fatigued after a fundraising event and forget an essential part of building local support: donor relations. Before the excitement wears off, take a moment to ensure you’ve captured your attendees’ contact information. Knowing who was in the room and also who invited them can make the inviting process easier next time. Taking the next step to reach out to them can lead to greater donations, more people taking actions, and maybe even new partners!

Wondering how?  Here are a few ideas:

• Send Thank You’s right away. The RESULTS D.C. office will acknowledge donations, but it’s nice for a donor to be thanked by the local group.

• Invite them to a RESULTS event with no fundraising. Outreach meetings and letter-writing events are good ways for them see you in action!

• Send an update letter about local activities. A great time of year to do this is after the International Conference (“Look at our successes!”) or in January (“Here’s what we did last year and here’s how to be involved this year.”)

• Invite them to keep in touch with your group. Create a postcard or email with “Five Ways to Engage with RESULTS.” List methods you’ve developed to help with connections, such as monthly meetings, Twitter, Facebook, a local website, or the RESULTS Action Network.

You might even reach out to donors you don’t know!  RESULTS Chicago sent invitations to all area donors from a list generated by the RESULTS office and got back the following email:

“Hi! I received an invite to the April 29th event. I have been donating to RESULTS for several years and this is the first that I knew that there was a group in this area. Can you catch me up on what the Chicago based group of RESULTS does?”

Wow! What a softball question! If you’d like help finding donors in your area or advice on creating your own simple database of supporters, please contact your development staff at [email protected]. We’d love to help!