 Hello, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me this afternoon for this webinar. And this webinar is, of course, how to thank your Giving Tuesday donors and make sure that they will give again. And we will go ahead and get started so we can make the most of our time today. My name is Lori Maxwell. I am the Community Development Manager here at Mighty Cause and it is nice to meet you all. Today is a quick snapshot of our agenda for today. We're going to talk about thanking your Giving Tuesday donors, how to make that personal. Some ideas for mailing them at your thanks, showing your gratitude publicly using our tools to say thank you and just building gratitude into your general fundraising strategy for year round giving. This may be a Q&A session at the end of the presentation, but as we go along, if questions come up that you're afraid you might forget or you just want to ask in the moment, please feel free to pop those in the Q&A box or into the chat. I will get to them when I can. I will likely save them all till the end just so we can get through all of the content, but I will do my best to get them all answered before we wrap up today. A little bit about Mighty Cause, who we are. We have been around since 2006 and we are a year round modern all-in-one platform specifically designed for nonprofits to use for online fundraising. We offer a number of different features and tools for you all to use during your fundraising, including peer-to-peer, unlimited team and event campaigns, embeddable donation tools, etc. You can see on the screen and you are always welcome to learn more about this at mightycause.com. Some of the things that we do have to offer include secure donation processing that we handle ourselves, donation tools that you can use to get recurring donations, you can add offline donations. We offer some of the best peer-to-peer tools in the industry, integrations with Salesforce MailChimp and other other softwares through Zapier. So really there are over a thousand different softwares that we integrate with. So if you have any questions about that again, feel welcome to ask. You can pop that in the Q&A or the chat. Now we're here today to specifically talk about Giving Tuesday on Mighty Cause. So a little bit about that event. We all probably know at this point that Giving Tuesday this year will be on Tuesday, November 30th on Mighty Cause. This is going to be a 27-hour fundraising event to make sure that we are accounting for nonprofits across the nation. And that will begin at midnight Eastern time on November 30th and end at midnight Pacific time the next day. On the Giving Tuesday website you will also find a lot of different resources including a free nonprofit toolkit. It's going to include social media in email templates, checklists, everything that you will need to get your Giving Tuesday campaign up and running planned. Make sure that you're ready and set up for success. There are a number of different training events that are available on giving Tuesday.mightycause.com as well. There are also these webinars that we're hosting. The recordings are available to view. So if you have missed one or you just would like to watch something again, please feel welcome to go check that out. They all should be uploaded about in the day or two following the webinar itself. The registration is now open at giving Tuesday.mightycause.com. So if you have yet to register, please go there and do that now. Early Giving for Giving Tuesday will start next Tuesday the 16th. So definitely want to make sure you all have enough time to get your page up and running and everything ready to go for that to launch. So the first step in thanking your donors after Giving Tuesday is to make it personal. So we're going to take a few minutes and talk about what that means. We all know that the Giving Tuesday is primarily an online giving event. There will be, you know, for some organizations, checks and cash that come in. And you can of course count those towards your Giving Tuesday total but for the most part, all of the donations are going to be given online. So it's easy, especially in this day and age, it's easy for nonprofits to just kind of think, okay, if they give online, we're going to give our thanks online and then that's the end of end of everything. That shouldn't necessarily be the case. Sending a thank you email is definitely a great place to start but it should not be where the gratitude ends because thanking donors is all about building relationship. It should be part of a much bigger stewardship plan, and you can't do that with marketing emails or just emails alone. You really do have to get personal. The first idea that I'd like to float is picking up the phone. A simple one to three minute phone call can really make all the difference in donor retention and having people invest more deeply into your organization. It's not any more complex than sending an email, and you can tap into your development staff your volunteers board members really make a group that will all kind of divide and conquer, make these phone calls on your behalf. And you can make that easier for them by providing the list of names phone numbers and even a script if they feel like they might not know what to say. One of the ways you know you might not have all of your donors phone numbers in your CRM. If that's the case you can always opt into collecting phone numbers on your mighty cause checkout flow as well so that when they're making a donation, they do have to input that that data as well. If that's something you're interested in and you're not clear on how to do that again please let me know or let anyone at our support team know and we will be happy to help you with that. Just a little anecdotal story here I was recently a part of a phone tree for this exact purpose for an organization that I volunteer for. And there were about 15 of us I think we had about 200 donors that we were all calling. It took us maybe an hour and a half we had a script and it was so much fun. We had a great time, we were there with each other really encouraging at each other. And you know as you can imagine you do get voicemail quite a bit of the time but that's where the script really becomes handy. It's easy to have a conversation that's two sided and that kind of flows organically to say thanks you have some really interesting conversations with your donors about why they've given to your organization. And sometimes even lead that or use that to find opportunities for them to get involved in different ways, but the script is really helpful for voicemails because some folks just don't feel comfortable or know exactly what to say so, again, this is such a great idea if you have the the bandwidth to do it I highly encourage considering this a second option if you're unable to do the phone calls for some reason or on top of the phone calls if you'd like to do both is to send a personal note. After a big campaign like giving Tuesday or really any fundraising campaign that your organization has sending a personal thank you is a really great way to make donors feel appreciated. And again to start building that relationship with them that's really what this is about you want to get your donors to recognize that you recognize them and you want to start a relationship that's going to be long lasting, and that has them coming back to support you time and time again. Now the personal note can be done over email but a handwritten note really adds that extra personal touch that can make a huge different to donor difference to donors. The personal note can be done surprisingly quickly, it can also be done for the most part ahead of time you can pre prepare a lot of the content of this note. And then just kind of go in after the fact to add specific details about that donor and what they have given to your fundraising efforts. This can also be done in the phone tree style where you have a number of different people who are writing notes themselves so maybe you've got 10 board members and you're going to divide the list up between all of them. Maybe your executive director wants to get on board, and you can have all of them write a different set of notes, and you can provide a script for this, just like you would for the phone calls, if that if you feel like that would make it easier for them to know exactly what to say. Now when do you send the personal note. So, as a best practice you want to keep your thank you note separate from your receipt. The receipt is automatic from mighty cost so anytime somebody gives on your online fundraising platform through our giving Tuesday, they're going to automatically receive their receipt right after completing their donation. You don't have to send an additional receipt after that they will have everything they need for tax purposes. But you can, you can add a customized message to that receipt on our platform as well. The biggest piece to remember though is that thank yous are reaching out in gratitude this isn't thank yous are not completing a transaction and that's what the receipt is right so you want your thank you note to be separate from the receipt. And a personal note after a fundraising campaign such as giving Tuesday, you might also do it at the end of the year or around winter holidays. Maybe you want to do it as well when a donor sets up a recurring donation or on anniversary of a donor's first donation. The most important thing is that you have identified benchmarks in place so that you don't miss anyone and no one falls through the cracks. So if you have, you know, kind of two fold method to this where after a big big campaign like giving Tuesday, maybe you want to do all of those at once so you make sure that you're getting them done and you're not forgetting anyone. And then throughout the year, maybe you do it quarterly or maybe you for new donors or you know however that works out for you all bandwidth wise to make sure that, again, you're not letting anyone fall through the cracks and everyone is receiving that personal attention. So you want all of your donors to receive. Another thing that you can do is to mail them your things you know I've been talking a lot right now about the digital space and of course we all do know that that's how most of this campaign is going to be run. But the reason that you should consider physical mail or hard copy mail is because the average person is going to receive over 100 emails per day. You know, like on my phone I have four different email accounts on my cell phone. I received so many emails a day it's easy to overlook things. Also sometimes things get sent to a spam folder or get filtered out for some reason. So sending a thank you through the mail can really help you avoid those things make sure that you're getting your donors are getting eyes on your thanks, and it'll be something also that's a lot more memorable to them. One thing to consider for a physical mailer is a welcome packet. So a hallmark of a good fundraising program is really making your donors feel like they are a part of an exclusive club. A welcome packet is a really great way to do that, and especially for first time donors to your organization who really deserve that extra attention to make sure that you are, you know, they want to feel seen by you. This is how you can do that for them. A welcome packet is really great as well because you know a lot of donors are going to choose to give to your organization because they identify with your mission. Your mission is really important to them. So the example I have here you know if you identify or someone identifies as a person who cares deeply about the well-being of children, maybe they're going to focus their giving their charitable giving to nonprofits that help children. It's going to make the materials that make them feel like they're a part of a group of people that feel you know the same way they care deeply about the same things. It's going to make them feel seen it's going to make them feel like they're a part of a community, and it's really going to get them invested further into your mission and the work that you're doing. You can include educational materials information about your programs, even a small Chachki or token, and just something to let them know that you are grateful. It doesn't need to be elaborate or expensive. Some nonprofits work with local businesses I'm sure you've seen a lot of these things key chains bumper stickers, really anything at one of the I think more. I've seen a lot recently are the little pop top things for the back of people cell phones really anything that is branded that is recognizable as being a part of your organization is a great idea to add into the welcome packet. If you have that personal note that you're having your executive director or board members right. This is a great place to go ahead and pop that in as well. If you want to send it separately you certainly can but you can include it in the welcome packet to some examples of tokens of appreciation that aren't necessarily something that would cause or that that would be a financial burden to you as an organization are to get things that are to have people create things that are going to let your donors connect on an emotional level. I've added a couple of examples here that have actually seen used in real life and they are always incredibly successful people love them for an animal rescue consider a photograph, or a story about an animal in your care for a children focused organization maybe have the children put that participate in your programming draw a thank you picture. You can use one picture and have it printed out a number of times it doesn't have to be unique for every donor. It's still something really personalized it's still something really special that people will feel strongly about and then they'll feel more connected to your organization. Now another thing that you may want to consider is to show your thanks publicly. Now not all donors are going to want recognition for their support at least not in a grand public way but that's definitely exception and not the rule. A recognition that donors want is definitely going to be a spectrum but most people are going to fall somewhere in the middle. Now this shouldn't be your only plan you shouldn't only show your gratitude publicly but it's a really great addition to your stewardship plan. Now you may want to consider acknowledging your donors as a and your newsletter, maybe that's printed. Most of the time nowadays of course it's digital, but either one of those are great place to start. If you have a physical location for your organization, consider a donor wall in your building or lobby or just somewhere visible to people who are coming into your space. And you know this can be something that you can put up and take down yourself very easy to print out lists and little circles or bubbles that have people's names and then you can even create tears if you'd like to, you know, kind of recognize your major donors in a different way. It's completely up to you all how you again kind of comes down to bandwidth but however you all feel like is best to recognize your donors in that way. You can also have a section specifically for donor recognition on your website. And one of the more common things that we see nowadays is recognizing and acknowledging your donors on social media. Now through our Facebook integration on Zapier, you can actually have it set up to where it will automatically post a thank you to your donors every time a donation comes through. Specifically for events like giving Tuesday or these, you know, a high volume kind of one day events. This is a great option because it takes so little time from your volunteers and staff. It's something you can set up so it's automated, and it just kind of happens every time a donation is made, you can turn it on and off as you need to, but it definitely can save a lot of time in the long run. Another place that a lot of organizations will acknowledge their donors is in the annual report. Now we all know that the donor the annual point is typically going to be structured around content that we want to present to our board members and to our constituents people who are really invested in our organization. And that should always include your donors of course. So donor focused annual report is a great way to show the donors the impact of their donations and the work that you all are doing. So you want to pull facts and figures that would be powerful to share with your donors that can also include specific case studies testimonials from people who have used your programming. And anything like that that you feel is appropriate share with your donors is a great way to get them to understand the impact of the donation and have them come back the next year and give again. If you print your annual reports, dedicate some space to listing your donors, give them a shout out emphasize all that they made possible with their donations that year. Printed annual report is, you know, too expensive it's a little cost prohibitive, consider a digital report. I think those are perfectly fine you can include it in your digital newsletter at the end of the year if that's something that you do. But either way I think it's important to make it accessible and maybe have it for download on your website. The mighty cause has a number of tools that will make it easy for you to say thank you as well. I know that as part of our giving Tuesday campaign this year one of the requirements for approval of your registration is that you customize the thank you page on your mighty cause organizations page. So how do you do that. On the left hand side of your dashboard, there will be a checkout section in your set checkout section you'll see I have it circled here. But there is a thank you page option. After making a donation donors are automatically taken to the thank you page that is going to contain the customized message that you build for your nonprofit. You're able to add links, images, all kinds of things including a call to action button that will link to any page you choose you can make it link out to your mighty cause page. If you're looking for your website, a blog your Facebook page really anywhere that you want to send people you can absolutely add a call to action button there. So again I know this is part of the requirement for this year so likely a lot of you have already completed this. However, if you do have any questions lingering about how to do this or how to make it really pop, please let me know and happy to answer that for you. So thank you tools that we have a mighty cause I already mentioned earlier we do have receipt customization. Also, that's found in the same checkout flow that we looked at just a second ago for your thank you page. You'll have the opportunity to add a customized message that will be included in the tax receipt that your donors receive. I believe that this is up to 5000 characters you've got plenty of space to really get in there, and let them know how to do that for their donation. You can also integrate with your email tools so if you use MailChimp constant contact. Any number of different email communication tools, we can integrate with them so that you can set that up and have automated emails go out maybe you want each donor to receive an email from your executive director. Right after they make a donation on giving Tuesday, we can set that up through our integrations to make that happen. What we consider is to offer unique donor experiences to specific donors as they come in. You know, some of the time, especially in stewardship, you're really trying to identify folks who are interested in having a deeper relationship with your organization. If you're a major donor, maybe that will be a potential board member high level volunteer there are any number of reasons that you might identify someone as being, you know, maybe someone who's going to get more involved than your average donor. For those people consider offering unique experiences so that they can really see your programming or your work up close. I had a highly sought after volunteer opportunities. I had a an animal rescue recently we were talking about this exact thing and they said, Oh well, that would definitely be cuddling with the puppies, because everyone wants to everyone wants to cuddle with puppies right so think about that think about what volunteer opportunities always fill up right away immediately. Those are probably your highly sought after ones. Maybe consider holding a few spots in there for the donors that you really want to get in the door, so that you can have a deeper conversation with them. You can offer some tours of your facilities with staff or board members as the tour guides again, just trying to deepen that conversation really get people invested in the work, so that they'll continue to return. You also want to make sure that you're showing the impact so storytelling is really important for fundraising at the beginning, you really want to know people why they should choose to donate to your organization above the rest right. And I continue to tell the story of your organization, after they make it after they make a donation as well. Let them know how the funds are going to be used after the fact show them how they were used, let them see the progress that you all are making in your work directly tied to the donations that they have made. As long as donors are able to see what the organization has been able to accomplish and they can feel very strongly and have a visual representation of how their donation made an impact, they're much more likely to return year after year. You also want to just build gratitude into your fundraising strategy in general so this you know not only just applies to giving Tuesday but definitely for your year round fundraising as well. Thinking and appreciating donors is essential to donor retention so if you want people to keep coming back you have to make sure they feel appreciated. It costs less to retain an existing donor than it does to acquire a new one. So your time money and effort is very well spent thanking your donors, and making sure that they feel appreciated. Fundraising plan really is not going to be complete without thanking your donors so you want to make sure you're building it into your organization's fundraising operations. Get your staff and volunteers involved. You know a lot of small organizations won't necessarily have a large number of people that are dedicated to fundraising or dedicated to development. It doesn't live in a silo of development. Gratitude should be spread across the board getting everybody involved. There's no reason that your programming staff couldn't make those phone calls as well, right? So get everybody involved, let everybody have those conversations with the donors, and think about it like this as well. Your programming staff might have a lot of great storytelling to offer to your donors, right? If you know more about the day to day, they might just have more anecdotal experience to be able to pull up in conversation when they're talking to your donors. So getting everyone involved is key. Some keys to thanking your donors that we've kind of hit on throughout this presentation, you want to make it a priority, definitely want to make it just a part of the routine, and have processes and resources in place ahead of time to streamline the process. The donors that feel appreciated and valued are going to be much more likely to stick with your organization for the long haul and to continue to come back year after year to support your fundraising efforts. I'm going to go ahead and open it up now to questions. Please feel free. Again, there's the Q&A and a chat box. You are welcome to ask any questions in there and I will answer them as they come in. Okay, I'm going to assume that means I did a fantastic job. And I'm thank you all for your time today. As I mentioned before, this recording will be up on the website in the next day or two. So feel welcome to revisit if you need to, or share this with any of the rest of your team, if you feel like it would be helpful. And I hope you all have a great Giving Tuesday and good luck. Thanks so much. Have a great afternoon, everyone.