We were cultivating our board chair for a seven-figure gift and I realized his spouse’s birthday was right around the corner. I also happened to know this nice lady was bonkers for cranberry nut muffins. Go figure.
On the day, at 7:30AM I gently placed a wicker basket on their front doorstep with a pretty red oversized napkin inside. The napkin covered the aforementioned muffins and a card signed by our president and yours truly. I rang the doorbell and hustled away, figuring the birthday lady would answer the door in her pajamas and be embarrassed.
Let’s just say, the strategy worked. She called that afternoon to say how touched she was. “Who does that?! You all are so thoughtful!” A week later her spouse looked me in the eye and said, “That was a class act.”
The gift came two months later.
There are very few ways fundraisers and their organizations can express thanks to donors that are “can’t miss.” Flowers is tried and true, for sure, as is the handwritten note.
I discovered an even better way years ago and have used it ever since.
If you want to say thanks to someone, don’t do something nice for them. Do it for someone they love.
Your organization’s sweatshirts for their children. Flowers or whatever to the spouse with this card attached: “Thank you for sharing (great person) with us. Words cannot describe how much they, and you, mean to us.”
There is not a person alive who doesn’t want to look good in front of their spouse or their children. Everyone wants their spouse or kids to be proud of them.
You can make that happen.
If you want to do something nice for someone, don’t do it for them.
Do it for someone they love.