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Tag Archives: thank you
December 2, 2011, 10:07 am
University Thanks Big Donors With a Rap Video
To thank donors who paid for a new $32-million sports center, Bowling Green State University produced a video featuring some of those very same supporters.
The donors were game. They wore basketball uniforms and tried to bounce and spin a basketball, while acting tough on camera. The video, which was shown at the dedication of the Stroh Center in September, also featured a college student rapping about the donors’ big gifts, while showing the buildings and the basketball court named after them. Watch how the student, Mikey (Rosco) Blair, raps “philanthropy”:
“It tells a story and it entertains,” says Mary Ellen Gillespie, associate athletics director for external relations. “It has become the ‘wow’ that we wanted it to be.”
Now the university is showing the video to potential students and donors in off-campus events.
Here’s how the video came…
November 29, 2011, 8:26 pm
How to Make Great Thank-You Videos
In recent years, some charities have begun to acknowledge donors’ gifts with videos. But many of these productions aren’t getting the job done, according to a fund-raising expert who has reviewed dozens of them. He warns nonprofits to keep their thank-you videos clear and simple.
Adrian Allen, a fund raiser at a private school in St. Louis, recently watched 40 thank-you videos from nonprofits. He found them through a pitch he made on an e-mail discussion list maintained by the Association of Donor Recruitment Professionals. Originally, he wanted to write a post about the topic on his blog No Donor Left Behind.
Mr. Allen discovered three common mistakes charities make with thank-you videos.
They’re too long. Too often, Mr. Allen found charities “overestimating the attention span of the viewer.” Viewing one 15-minute video, he says, sapped his desire to watch more after a couple…
August 3, 2011, 9:39 am
Thank-You Note Prompts Unexpected Foundation Gift
Many foundations don’t accept unsolicited proposals, but sometimes a heart-felt “thank you” can lead them to break that rule.
Martha Hagedorn-Krass, executive director of the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Northeast Kansas, in Topeka, didn’t expect anything when she sent a thank-you note to the William J. Clinton Foundation after she heard the former president speak at the March conference of the Association of Fundraising Professionals in Chicago.
Four months later, an envelope containing a $5,000 check arrived from President Clinton’s family foundation. “I was very touched,” says Ms. Hagedorn-Krass (shown at left.) “It made my afternoon.”
What may have appealed to the Clinton Foundation was Ms. Hagedorn-Krass’s enthusiasm about Mr. Clinton’s key points: the role of fund raisers and his foundation’s work in sustainable energy and energy conservation.
“I thought it was a …
July 11, 2011, 9:27 am
An Environmental Nonprofit Seizes On Missed Opportunities
When Acterra, an environmental charity in California’s Silicon Valley, recently revised its standard letter to thank donors, it decided to reinforce donors’ emotional ties to the cause, says Amber Nixon, the group’s development director.
Taking some advice from the free electronic book Lifetime Donor Attraction System, by the fund-raising consultant Pamela Grow, Ms. Nixon said she changed the first paragraph of the group’s letter to give the donor a “sense of joy,” included a personal story, and acknowledged each donor’s commitment to the cause.
Previously, each donor received the same form letter. Now it sends different messages for first-time donors, repeat supporters, and people who make big gifts.
Ms. Nixon said she also seized on a missed opportunity with the letter’s P.S. line, which asked donors to visit the organization’s Web site. Now that line asks donors to become a…
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