Gasp. Sigh. Forehead slap. Yipes!

The word ‘thank’ (as in ‘Thank you’) showed up on 54.3% of the websites. ‘Thanks’ made an appearance on 34.6% of the sites.

If we’re being generous, that means that some form of gratitude shows up on 88.9% of nonprofit websites. But in perusing the raw data, it looks like organizations who use one of these words, also use the other, meaning organizations that loverize their donors double down on that love, i.e. some form of gratitude likely doesn’t show up on 88.9% of the websites, but rather a smaller number of websites.

That there are any nonprofits with gratitude-less websites hanging out on the interwebs should be a wake-up call to us all. Gratitude is free, bountiful and feels awesome to give and receive. Here’s a Language Lab podcast devoted to the amazingness that is gratitude.

When we gather the Wordifier data in future years, I want us to be living in a world free of gratitude-less websites.

Thank YOU, dear reader, for being awesome and amazing and doing the wonderful work you do to change the world!

The post Alert, alert: We’ve got a gratitude deficit on our hands! appeared first on Claxon Communication.

So when I got these stupendously awesome thank you notes, I wanted to be sure to share them with you. Cuz who doesn’t need a little inspiration in their life?!

This first one came from Michael Stringer, one of the conference co-chairs of the Oregon Nonprofit Leaders Conference (which, by the way, is possibly the best run conference I’ve ever been privileged enough to be a part of). Although written on letterhead, which can feel more formal, his thank you is warm, genuine and personalized. Look at how he incorporated the content from my sessions into the thank you by swapping out “elevator speeches” for “pitches”. Love this guy!

The next two are from came our way because, as a way of showing gratitude to Claxon fabulous clients, we  made a donation in their name via Donors Choose so that a third grade class could start a book club. Every single student wrote a thank you note. Every single one. These are two of about 25 that we received. Um…awesome!

If  8  year olds can knock gratitude out of the park, so can you! Your thank yous don’t need to be fancy–they need to be genuine, heart-felt, authentic.

Be creative. Have fun. Notes, phone calls, social media shout-outs, profiles in your newsletters–the ways in which you can show gratitude are almost endless. How will you show gratitude?

The post Now that’s how you say Thank You! appeared first on Claxon Communication.

I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder. ~G.K. Chesterton

Right, so, here’s the thing–we simply don’t show enough gratitude. By ‘we’, I mean pretty much all of us. Not just nonprofits. Many times in any given day I think, “Dang, I am grateful to that person/ organization/ company/ whatever for that bit of goodness they are putting out to the world.” But thinking it isn’t the same as saying it or showing it. As G. B. Stern said, “Silent gratitude isn’t much use to anyone.”

Words of Gratitude come in all shapes and sizes. Here’s some inspiration!

• Shanon Doolittle exudes gratitude. We’ve learned a lot from her, and you can too. Visit her blog posts on saying thank you and showing your donors some love.
• A heartfelt thank you note can mean a lot. This is one of our favorites.
• Want help writing your own heartfelt thank you letter? Lisa Sargent’s got you covered.
• Our advice on how to exchange the lame handshakes for big hugs.

In short, show gratitude whenever possible. So many people contribute to your nonprofit’s success–donors, volunteers, community supporters, etc. etc. Make sure they know how much you appreciate them. And remember that expressing gratitude not only makes the person you’re talking to feel good, it makes you feel good, too.

Thank you for reading this post!

The post Words of Gratitude – Use Often [#WordsThatWow] appeared first on Claxon Communication.

Your supporters like to be recognized and all nonprofits need assets. So why, you might wonder, did the words ‘recognition’ and ‘assets’ end up on the Use With Caution section of the 2014 List of Words that Wow?

They ended up there because nonprofits are generally doing a lousy job of using them to their full potential. They’ve been de-humanized.

• Recognition: When you think about recognition, you want to think about it not just as acknowledgment but as “appreciation of the value of an achievement”. You shouldn’t merely recognize your supporters for their contributions of time, treasure and talent–you should be showering them with love and gratitude!  It’s like the auto-magically generated super boring thank you letters that most organizations send out–it goes out, you check off the box, and then move on to the next thing because you’ve technically thanked them. Not cool, people, not cool. There’s no reason for those letters to be boring. What would it look like to truly, fully recognize your donors, volunteers, advocates, fans and supporters for the value of their achievement? Do that.

• Assets: When you say ‘assets’, what are you really saying? An asset is “something or somebody of value”. When you refer to ‘organizational assets’, you might be referring to dollars in the bank, or computers, or a coffee machine, or some other inanimate object. But sometimes, we’re talking about animate objects, i.e. people. If you’re referring to people–staff, board, volunteers, etc–say ‘people’. Referring to people as assets creates distance, it’s sterile, cold. Unless you want a cold, sterile relationship with the people who are working hard to advance your mission, stop referring to them ‘assets’.  It’s just kind of weird.

In sum: Less recognition of assets. More showering people with gratitude.

The post Stop recognizing your assets appeared first on Claxon Communication.

Do you motivate new supporters to sing your praises by making a fantastic first impression? Do you make them feel like VIPs?

Most organizations miss the boat on this. New donors often start out at the bottom of the proverbial pyramid. Smaller donors tend to get less organizational adoration. If you’re  looking at short-term ROI, this makes some sense. If you take a longer view and/or are looking at both your cash AND beyond cash goals (as Peter Drury helps you do with his Beyond Cash Fundraising Dashboard), it makes no sense. Zip.

Acquisition is WAY more expensive than retention. One of the lowest cost ways to keep someone happy (and singing your praises) is to shower them with luv early and often–that first volunteer gig, donation, trip to the capital is a key happy-making-shower-them-with-luv moment. And yet many non profits let this opportunity pass them by.

Shanon Doolittle, brains behind the ‘Do good. Feel better.’ blog and generator of 22 Delightful Ways to Say Thank You is possibly The Best Thank You’er Ever. She is a Gratitude Goddess.

What did Shanon do to garner these coveted accolades?

She’s creative, consistent and lightening-fast with her gratitude goodness. She spreads gratitude up and down the donor pyramid…and is especially generous with newly minted supporters. She makes you feel grateful you had a chance to give to whatever cause you just gave to. (In addition to her day job at Group Health Foundation, Shanon raises money for many other causes in her spare time…she’s that kind of gal).

We should all channel our inner Shanon when it comes to making a fabulous, gratitude-infused first impression.

Are you making a fab-tastic first impression? Or are you a (gulp) first impression flop?

photo credit: SnoShuu via photo pin cc

The post Are you a first impression flop? appeared first on Claxon Communication.

This morning, I got to spend time at the PNAIS Advancement Conference. I did a session on Marketing Your Mission in 3 Easy Steps. No matter how many times I present on this topic, I’m always 1) humbled by the AMAZING work being done to make the world a better place and 2) reminded how little time we spend on the Why of it all.

Directly after my presentation, I got to hear Susan Howlett speak. Susan is responsible for transforming thousands of organizations through her work with boards. Her book Boards on Fire is setting the world of fundraising on fire!

In her session, Susan encouraged us to heed Simon Sinek’s advice to start with the why–and to keep going back to the why. Not just start with why, but to lead with why from start to finish. Sprinkle in some what and how, sure, but elevate the why.

For some reason, the mission-motivated of the world shy away from sharing their why. Why be shy about your why?

In an effort to stop this “Shy About Why” epidemic, I created a Mission-Motivated Messaging Checklist. The next time you are going to communicate about your organization, run down the following list:

1. Why? Why does your organization exist? Why should someone care about what you’re doing?
2. Why you? Of all the organizations out there, why should someone engage with you? What makes you special? Compelling?
3. Why now? What makes now the time for someone to take action?
4. What  now? What, specifically, do you want the person to do? Make it clear and make it easy. (Note: If you’re writing a Thank You note, for instance, the “action” might be to feel really, really good about the impact they’ve had. This isn’t a plug to always make an ask. It’s a plug for always being clear on what you hope the person on the receiving will feel and, when appropriate, do.)

If you address all of these, you’ll be in good shape.

Are you shy about your why? If so, why?

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