Handwritten Donor Thank You Notes In A Virtual World
My name is Rachel Muir and over the past 20+ years, I’ve started and ran nonprofit organizations, raised more than $10 million, and trained fundraisers across the country through my work as a speaker, consultant, and coach. However, in my prior life as Founder and Executive Director of Girlstart—a nonprofit empowering girls in math science, engineering and technology—we used inexpensive digital printing to send donors Valentine’s and Thanksgiving postcards. We also had pre-printed customized thank-you card stationery for girls to write donor thank you messages inside, or we’d print a close-up picture of a student and paste it inside with a heartfelt message.
Fast forward to today.
You may be working from home without access to whatever stationery you have at the office. If your programs have gone virtual it may not be easy to get volunteers and service recipients to write thank you cards.
How can you meaningfully and affordably thank donors with a personal touch?
I’m here to help!
Here is my favorite virtual fundraising tool that allow you send a heartfelt personal handwritten thanks—signed, sealed, stamped, and mailed—all from your phone or tablet without you ever having to lick a stamp or address an envelope!
The Felt app: Handwritten cards for the modern world
I found the Felt app watching one of our favorite family TV shows with my twins, Shark Tank. A husband and wife, Topfer and Gracie Alpert were on their way home from a dinner party when Gracie said “Wouldn’t it be nice if we could thank the hostess with a card we wrote from our phone?” The Felt app was born. I know what you’re thinking…which shark invested? Mr. Wonderful saw their product as a play for the bridal market and invested $200,000.
In a world full of typed messages and printed greeting cards, the Felt app stands out. You download their app and give it access to your photostream so you can use any photo from your camera roll, like that great shot of your donor on the hard hat tour of your space! You can also use your photos from Instagram or Facebook or their illustrated designs. For a couple of dollars more a month Felt will make you custom stationery using your logo. Best of all? You create your card and write your message all from your tablet or phone. You never even have to buy (or lick) a stamp! The internet carrier pigeons send it on their way, the card is printed on high-quality Mohawk paper (in Dallas, Texas) and in a couple of days, your donor gets their special delivery.
You can try Felt FOR FREE for 7 days and send 3 cards of any size. When you sign up you can send up to 3 cards a month domestically for only $6.
Want some help delighting your donors?
Download a copy of Rachel’s “Virtual Guide to Donor Cultivation” It’s loaded with time-saving technology tools, 11 ways to thank a donor after a gift, and 21 virtual stewardship ideas to delight your donors.
