The most sincere thank you ever written
As you know I often use this quote:“We need to value donors as much as we need value from them.” I think it’s a beautiful way to express the core of our work. When I recently used it Wim Desmedt from Sightsavers Ireland responded. He shared underneath example with me. I’ve seen lots of thank you’s coming by in my career, but I think this is the most sincere thank you ever written.
I happens a lot that as an organization you are in contact with relatives of a donor who passed away. Your administration needs to be updated. It’s never something someone is looking forward to. But to avoid unnecessary pain on one side, and cost on the other it needs to be done. But above all, it’s an excellent indicator of how donor focused you as an organization really are. Do you make it an administrative process or an experience people will not easily forget?
Wim is doing the introduction himself:
“Michael, our customer care officer, joined the organization 21 April this year, about a month before this conversation took place. He had no experience in fundraising, but had worked in call centers for many years. When I gave him his first induction via Skype, I insisted that “Sightsavers has to be purposeful” for its donors. We must make it clear to people what their impact is through the donations they make. We had an interesting discussion about how he, as a customer care officer, could play a prominent role in this.
The email conversation below followed a notification from the daughter of a regular donor to report that her father had died. The death notice was used by Michael to help our donor's daughter understand the impact her parents made through their gifts. Something she didn't know until then!”
The donor's name has obviously been changed. The rest of the email is the original that was send out.
Dear Dorothy,
From our small team at Sightsavers Ireland, we wanted to share our sincerest condolences for the passing of your mother and father. They were both generous supporters of our work and we are so very grateful for their kindness. With their first donation dating back to 2005, they were supporting our work for nearly 15 years. During this time, their donations were enough to provide 20 sight-restoring cataract operations, or to relieve the pain of trachoma and prevent blindness with medication for over 1,260 people. What an incredible gift to have given!
Each of these numbers is a person and a life that they have transformed forever - a pair of eyes that they helped to see again. There are no words to truly show our gratitude, but on behalf of all those people whose sight they have protected and restored, we would like to say a big heartfelt thank you. Through all of these people, your mother and father's kind and thoughtful spirit lives on, and every day their generosity is appreciated by those who can see their family and the world around them because of them. They have left an incredible mark on this world and we wanted you to know how very humbled we are to have been their charity of choice.
Thank you for taking the time to let us know, Dorothy. I understand this must be a difficult task, but it is also a time to celebrate their kindness and generosity and we are so grateful for this. I have removed their details from our mailings list so there should not be any more future correspondence from us.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me. I would only be too happy to help.
Take care and kind regards,
Michael.
Michael Breslin
Fundraising and Supporter Care Coordinator | Sightsavers Ireland
A brilliant email right? Wonderful to see that as a donor at Sightsavers you are not just a number in a database. You get the feeling that you are both appreciated and taken seriously. And also that the organization lives up to the mission it has promised to its donors. This type of communication contributes to the satisfaction, commitment and trust of your donors.
And don't forget the answer from the donor's daughter:
Hi Michael,
Thank you for you very thoughtful response. Both Mum and Dad had eye problems which was managed by regular treatment so this may be why they were a regular contributor to your charity. I passed your response on to the rest of the family who were also very moved by your response.
I have signed up to contribute by way of monthly direct debit and I wouldn’t be surprised if one or two of my family do also.
Kind regards.
Dorothy
Also the donor’s daughter was clearly impressed. And that is not surprising, because she has just discovered how greatly her parents' donations are valued.
Great example, right? Compliments for Wim, Michael & Sightsavers!