Thank You Email to Donors (With Sample)

One of the hardest jobs for an NGO is fundraising, and you have got it.

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.