Congratulations!

But wait, do not forget to send a “Thank you” email to your donor. The longer you wait; the lesser chance to earn your sincerity points.

“Thank you” can be an incredibly powerful pair of words.  It is a courteous way to thank the donor for their money and time. It makes you look thoughtful and professional. And for most fundraisers, it is the No#1 strategy for creating loyal relations. A simple note can engage you on a personal level with your donor and also increases your chance for subsequent funding.

10 Rules for Writing a Thank You Email to Donors

1. Always use your professional email address

Ideally, every NGO must have a website with a proper domain name and email address under it. It helps your organization look more professional to donors.

Use rama.thapa@xyznepal.org instead of ramaxyz@gmail.com. The donors instantly remember you and your organization, and your email will not get mistaken for spam.

2. Make sure the subject line is appropriate

Never send an email without a subject. With inboxes being clogged by hundreds of e-mails per day, it is important that your subject line is to the point. It should be simple and descriptive of what you have written about. In fact, 47% of email recipients decide whether or not to open an email based on subject line alone.

E.g. Thank you for choosing to donate to the Women’s Literacy program

3. Use the appropriate salutation

Begin your “thank you” letter by addressing it to a person rather than an organization. Someone who has been in constant contact during fundraising.

Dear John Don sounds better and personal than Dear DFID or Dear Sir or Madam.

Make it personal but not unprofessional.

Never use Hey John or John Hello.

4. Express your genuine gratitude

Start by thanking them right away. Be specific about what you’re grateful for. Put the exact amount of the donation received and the name of the project to which the donation was made. An important part of this is showing your transparency on how their money is being spent.

5. Tell them why their donation is valued

Write a brief but descriptive paragraph on how their money will be used for and how it will change lives or solve a problem. Adding a case study or feedback from the beneficiary would help to bring the donor’s impact on life.

6. Attach an image

Again, an image of your project in action is one of the best ways of demonstrating both your appreciation and the donor’s impact. A Picture is worth a thousand words.

Remember to resize the image before attaching (not more than 500 KB) –  its just for review, not for print.

7. Tell the donor when they will hear from you next

Now that you’ve expressed your gratitude, it is always nice to give donors a time frame of when you will be able to send a progress report of the project or better invite them to your organization to see the work first hand.

8. Let them know you appreciate them one last time

End the letter with one last quick thank you.

9. Always include a signature.

Close the letter with your name and contact information. Give a name, phone number and email address of a person.
Don’t sign off in an overly familiar way, e.g ‘Rama from Nepal’, ‘XOXO’, ‘Muwah’. If your organization is active in social media, include the information in your signature as well.

E.g.
        Yours Sincerely,
       Rama Thapa
       XYZ Nepal
       Dhapasi, Kathmandu, Nepal
       Tel# 977-1-XXXXX
      rama.thapa@XYZnepal.org.np
      www.XYZnepal.org

10. Include P.S

Use your P.S as a marketing tool, to gain more engagement. Ask them to subscribe to your newsletter, follow you on Social Media.

E.g
P.S.  We are now working in Kodari too, for updates kindly subscribe to our newsletter.

Sample Thank You Email to Donors

The example below is only a sample template to give an idea of how to format your thank you email to donors for a successful donation and what information should be included.

Subject Line: Thank you for supporting solar panel installation in Ghemi village.

Dear John Don,

On behalf of XYZ Nepal and people of Ghemi village, I would like to thank you for your contribution of US$25,000. Your financial support helps us to continue our mission of providing solar panels to sustainably facilitate clean renewable rural community electrification. With the amount, we will be able to successfully install solar panels in a community school, a community hospital and 39 houses in Ghemi. We will also conduct a 5-day training for 10 local youths to facilitate the installation and maintenance of solar panels. Imagine the faces lighting up when our students heard the news about your generosity and their hopes of alleviating the basic need like the light that they have been deprived of. It was further amazing to see the oozing positivity in village youths about the training.

Sita, the leader of Amma Samuha (Mother’s Group) said, “the solar lighting system will not only enable us to work late but also help our children to do their homework at night without the discomfort of kerosene smoke. It will be a better tomorrow”.

Solar panel Installation will be completed by 22nd of April, 2018 and we will send you a final report by the end of April.
The village committee members have made a request to us. They would like to invite you to Ghemi to thank you in person at the completion of solar panel installation. And will be an honor for us to host you and your team to Ghemi village to see the changes for yourself.

Thank you again for your kind support.

Yours Sincerely,
Rama Thapa
XYZ Nepal
Balaju, Kathmandu, Nepal
tel# 977-1-XXXXX
rama.thapa@XYZnepal.org.np
www.XYZnepal.org.np

P.S. We are now working in Kodari too, for updates kindly subscribe to our newsletter.

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The post Thank You Email to Donors (With Sample) appeared first on proposalforNGOs.

Request for Grant Extension Letter Sample

Dear Mr. John Don,

I am writing to request an extension of grant no. 03451, Justice and Gender, to 31 November 2018. The current end date of the grant is 30 June 2018.

The primary reason for the extension concerns an important meeting that has been postponed and will now be held from November 16-19 in New Delhi, India. This meeting will bring together female advocates, NGOs, and others involved in gender-based litigation from around the country. We are very excited about this meeting, which will be an unprecedented opportunity to focus on the potential value (as well as challenges) of prosecuting gender-based issues in district courts.

Additionally, the extension will allow us to assist some of our beneficiaries in organizing their own networking sessions to share stories and tips for the courtroom. We will also be holding a small consultative meeting about a publication we are preparing.

The grant has been enormously successful, and the investment made thus far in this project has had a demonstrable impact in strengthening the field. Our challenge now is to move forward to the next stage, seeking to strengthen existing impacts and further consolidate their usefulness and effectiveness.

Towards this end, we plan to submit to you soon a final narrative outlining what we have learned from the grant thus far. We then hope include with that a supplemental proposal for activities and budget going forward. We anticipate the supplemental proposal would be roughly proportional in size to the original one.

Please let us know if this approach makes sense.

I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Best regards,

Rana Thapa

Request for Grant Extension Letter Template

Here is a proposal grant extension letter template. The above sample was used with this template as a base. This template is in print letter format. If the extension letter is intended to be sent as an email, then reformat to match the above sample.

An editable Word document file is also available below. All [red text in brackets] should be filled out and customized by the NGO. Do not forget to remove the brackets and red color before sending to a donor!

The post Sample Grant Extension Letter Template appeared first on proposalforNGOs.

Letter to the donor after rejection [sample]

RE: XYZ Nepal – Thank you for your time
Solar Panel Installation in Ghemi Village

Dear John Don,

The entire team here at XYZ Nepal and I were disappointed by your decision announced last week. However, we understand the difficulties in prioritizing your funding. We wish all the best to your new grantees – they are very fortunate to have you as a donor and will no doubt run fantastic programs with your support.

We hope our application still convinced you of the real challenges faced by our community members. While we were unsuccessful in this funding round, I know our shared priorities on empowering rural communities align. I hope you will consider working with us in the future.

Would you be available next week for a short Skype meeting to discuss our application? I want to learn where we can improve for next time, and if there are any other potential partners you could recommend us to.

XYZ Nepal is still committed to brightening our communities with smiles as well as solar lighting. We are confident in our project and will continue looking for willing partners. We would appreciate any recommendations or tips you have for us.

Thank you again for your time and help in pointing us in the right direction.

Best regards,

Rama Thapa
XYZ Nepal

Letter to the donor after rejection template

Here is a template you can use to send letters to donors after rejection. The above sample was created with this template as a base. This template is in print letter format. If the letter is intended to be sent as an email, then reformat it to match the above sample.

You may download this template as an editable Word document. Remember, all [red text in brackets] should be filled out and customized by the NGO. Do not forget to remove the brackets and red colour before sending to a donor!

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Dear Patricia,

I stumbled across your cutting edge work in wind power when I was searching online for wind power technologies that could work well for extreme temperatures in Nepal’s mountains, and wanted to get in touch.

My name is Nisha Koirala, and I started Wind Farm Nepal ten years ago, with two other renewable energy engineers. We started with in-depth studies on the potential for wind power, and worked with Dutch Technologies to pilot two wind farms in the southern plains of Nepal, which have both been hugely successful. We are now looking to expand our work into the mountains of Nepal.

I was greatly pleased to find out that you are also a strong supporter of renewable energy in Nepal. In fact, I have visited a solar farm in Bardiya supported by Renewable for Nepal. It was amazing to see how well the team had blended modern solar technology and local knowledge. It would be great if we could do something similar in wind power, and I wanted to get in touch to explore the potential for working together.

I am also sharing an article I recently wrote on the future of wind power in Nepal. I hope you enjoy reading it.

Sincerely,

Nisha Koirala
Founding Director
Wind Farm Nepal

The post Sample Cold Email to Potential Donor appeared first on proposalforNGOs.

The example below is only a sample template to give an idea of how to format your letter of inquiry for a successful donation and what information should be included. 

The post Sample Letter of Inquiry appeared first on proposalforNGOs.

Proposal Cover Letter Sample

Dear Mr. John Don,

I am pleased to enclose here our proposal on Adaption to Climate Change: Agroforestry and Sustainable Farming Practices in Kaule, Nepal to be implemented by KEN. We hope this proposal will allow you to come to a decision regarding support for this project in the coming weeks. KEN requests NPR 1,029,300 from the Embassy’s Small Grants Fund for local NGOs.

KEN last received funding from the Embassy two years ago for rebuilding after the earthquake. From our last meeting with your staff, we understand the Embassy is looking to build resiliency before the next big disaster strikes. Our project directly addresses this issue.

Adaption to Climate Change is a project focused on enhancing the resilience of small-scale farmers to the effects of climate change and to open up new possibilities for income generation. With your support, we will be able to eliminate reliance on cash crops and diversify farmers’ income, allowing for a better, sustainable lifestyle for all 762 residents of Kaule within 12 months.

I will be happy to respond to any questions you may have about the proposal. I can be reached at xx.xxx@KEN.org or +977-xxx-xxx xxx.

We thank you again for your consideration and look forward to hearing from you soon.

Regards,

Rama Thapa

Download Ready-Made Letter Templates

Proposal Cover Letter Template

Here is a proposal cover letter template. The above sample was used with this template as a base. This template is in print letter format. If the cover letter is intended to be sent as an email, then reformat to match the above sample.

An editable Word document file is also available below. All [red text in brackets] should be filled out and customized by the NGO. Do not forget to remove the brackets and red color before sending it to a donor!

This sample has been shared with modification for learning and capacity-building purposes.

The post Proposal Cover Letter Template appeared first on proposalforNGOs.