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You Cannot Outsource You!
In our group on LinkedIn (Smart Major Gift Marketers), someone was looking for heartfelt, personal examples of major donor acknowledgement letters. I responded by providing a link to Lisa Sargent’s sample letters found on the SOFII site (https://www.sofii.org/node/274).
Then a very wise man, Jay Goulart (of NewSci, LLC), made the following comment:
“There is no way to cut and paste authenticity. While I could send you a link to great examples, I suspect you, by knowing a little something about the people you are writing to, hold the key to what will connect. You can not outsource you. :-)”
I couldn’t agree more. But I still thought she needed more direction so I followed up by saying, “It’s always a good idea to bleed appreciation and be yourself. Don’t worry about it sounding cheesy. Just make sure it’s truly from the heart. Whatever you do, don’t let it sound corporate and don’t talk about the organization. Rather, talk about how awesome the donor is. Use my favorite phrases: thanks to you, because of your gift, and you made this happen.”
If you are looking for inspiration for your acknowledgement letters, you don’t have to look any further than your own heart.
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