The importance of
“Thank you” letters

by Sandra Millar

In our last newsletter we gave you the first 10 of your 20 tips.

Could you use any of them and do you have any feedback?

The last 10 tips are:

11.    Do you need to thank them for something specific i.e.:

                Membership renewal

                Winter or Christmas appeal

                An appeal for an individual - a child, elderly person or abandoned pet

12.    Do you let them know how their money will be spent?

13.    Please include a receipt

14.    Send the 18A Income Tax Exemption certificate

15.    Provide a contact name in the thank you letter. Include your name and telephone number. In some cases, the contact details of the social worker involved with a particular matter can be included – in case the donor has any questions.

16.    Include a reply envelope with your thank you letter

You don’t need to ask for a donation in the thank you letter. Just including the envelope will remind the donor that future donations are welcome. Many donors keep these envelopes and use them for a donation later or even right away. Many people are very divided on this issue. But reply envelopes have always worked for me.

17.    Make sure your donation thank you letter does NOT include:

An additional ‘ask’

An upgrade to monthly giving

18.    Use the thank you letter to invite more engagement

Provide an invitation in the thank you letter to connect with your organisation by inviting the donor to visit you. Not many will actually do it, but they will appreciate the offer. For those who do take up your invitation, it will be a great opportunity to see how your organisation makes a difference.

19.    Keep the thank you letter short – only one page

20.    Get that thank you letter out of the door.

Within 24 hours of receipt of the donation is ideal for getting that thank you letter in the mail. If that is impossible, aim for under a week. The sooner, the more impressed the donor will be, not to speak of being reassured that the donation got to you safely

Books of the month

Recommended by Asna Bahna

Mim Carlsons Third Edition of Winning Grants, Step by Step

Developed by The Alliance for Nonprofit Management. (John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2008, ISBN:0-7879-5876-X)

This book provides exactly that; a step by step guide through proposal writing. It takes you from development of your idea to putting the final package together. Along the way, it provides an overview of the grant seeking process, and advice on developing and sustaining relationships with funders.

Each chapter tackles the details of preparing each section of the proposal with lots of examples and hints. The special resources include a CD-ROM with form, worksheets and review questions at the end of each chapter.

Grant Proposal Makeover: Transform Your Request from No to Yes

Cheryl A. Clarke and Susan P. Fox. (John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2007, ISBN:0-7879-8055-2)

Since a bad proposal not only excludes you from the funding possibility it also can sour your future relationship with a funder (and their peers at other organizations--yes, they do talk to each other), it is imperative that you analyze your proposal with a discerning eye before you submit it.

And that is exactly what Clarke and Fox help you to do. They take proposals that are badly flawed in some way and then critique and rewrite them.

The chapters, engagingly titled (The Case of the Missing Needs Statement for instance), take you through a number of fatal flaws and then correct them. So, you get an actual proposal and then a corrected one.

But Clarke and Fox don't stop there. They have talked to and surveyed grant makers to find out their pet peeves. The text is peppered with quotes from real funders and spiced with their hints.

Attributes of a Good Cover Letter

by Asna Bahna

1.       Should be brief –  pay attention to the salutation must be personalised Dear Sir/Madam – OUT signed by the Executive Director of your Organisation

2.       Get to the point quickly

3.       You should not simply repeat the information that is in the proposal

4.       Tell the reader how well you understand the funder and how your grant fulfils the funder's requirements

5.       Say precisely how much you are asking & for what

6.       Limit your letter to one page

7.       Provide the human interest angle it is a powerful way to engage the reader.

Why did you choose to work in the non-profit sector?

by Sandra Millar

I hope it’s because you believe that you do have a contribution to make. That the work you do matters – that the lives of your beneficiaries do change

As fundraisers we have a duty to work towards the enlistment of all South Africans. We also need to protect our environment, animals and promote the arts.

Together, as a powerful group of people, we need to speak out and lobby against all forms of social injustice.  It’s not enough that we have a narrow view of the needs of our organisation; we must care about all the social injustices around us.

Which brings me to my ‘rant’ for this month …

I have the privilege of training, mentoring and coaching many NPO’s around South Africa. And too often I am told the most shocking tales of waste, theft and mismanagement of funds. Sometimes this happens at the organisation’s delegate who is attending a workshop or about another NPO.

You and I both know that charities too often make headlines – and for the wrong reasons. The theft of donor money, broken promises, neglect of beneficiaries, lavish offices, cars and laptops. Blatant waste and extravagance. Planning workshops that include visits to the spa, expensive meals … the list goes on and on.

Is this really what you want? To work for a charity that is far more interested in material trappings or a charity that keeps the promises it made to its beneficiaries.

Go back to your mission statement and vision. Why does the charity exist?

It is your duty to stop this! Report these matters to Board Members, to the Department of Social Development. For the sake of all the good charities out there … Speak up! It’s no good telling me and your friends and your donors unless you are prepared to do something concrete about the rot. I want you be proud of not only the NPO you work for, but of every NPO in Southern Africa.

And the waste and mismanagement goes further - staff who are not trained, do not empathise with their donors. Directors’ who will not empower their staff. ‘Absent’ board members. When you plan and budget, do you ever consider the needs of your beneficiaries? Are they given what you want them to have, or are they given the things that will truly make a difference to their lives?

The truly wonderful charities in our  country …

I have also meet directors, board members, volunteers, social workers and fundraisers who do truly remarkable things under very difficult circumstances. I salute you. I hope you will always serve as a beacon to the rest of us. You understand social injustice and every day your work makes a difference!

Asna’s tip of the month

Some of us have proposal writing down to an art.

Writing the proposal is the most important task a grant writer has right; wrong.

The cover letter is the most important piece of the package. It is first thing that the reader sees & sets the tone for the rest of the proposal.

Paying attention to the finer points of putting together the proposal package, like the cover letter, can make or break funding proposals.

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