Social networking sites such as LinkedIn, Face Book, and Twitter have exploded. These are the best known but hundreds of smaller networks exist. They grew because people love to talk and share. You probably wonder about some of the things you see on these sites. Do we really care what Ivory ate for breakfast or if Stella is in a good mood? The answer is yes!!
We do care. We have an insatiable desire to know what is going on in our neighbors minds, bodies and businesses. So of course it is only natural that people are courious about where their money goes when they donate. As a nonprofit with foster care I saw this often. A gift would arrive; it could be a crib or a toy, sometimes food or money for a familyand the giver would ask where it went. Could they get a picture of the child opening the present? What was the baby’s name who received the crib?
Often i would be asked months even years later, what happened to…
Your donors are hungry, they want to know how their donations are used. Of course you can’t track each donation and you will need to be careful about having releases, but share the stories. Let your donors follow you on the social networks and give a quick up date.
I used to write a News Letter and send it as a thank you to donors. With the web it can all be streamlined. Let them know that Evie turned eight and thanks to their donations she is able to ride a shiny new red bike! Tell them of the excitment the school supplies bring, the tears the food brought to a single struggling mom.
This is especially important if those of you working with populations that are hard to like or care about. So talk about the parolee who made a mistake, worked hard and is now being released. Give him a name – a personality – a dream. Let your donors know that Luke has twinkling blue eyes and dreams of marrying his childhood sweetheart. That Luke is looking forward to restarting his life and thanks to the donor can now rent a small apartment and finish his certification in auto repair.
Tweet your success and when you have needs your donors will be more willing to pitch in. They will share and connect with their networks bringing in greater dollars.
