# Many thanks Kate!

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2009/01/14/many-thanks-kate/
- Published: 2009-01-14T21:39:12+00:00
- Author: Howard Lake

That Winslet girl have given us all a lesson in thanking our donors properly. That
is with genuine emotion, no script, no words we have heard a thousand times but 
straight from the heart. You cannot beat thanking your key donors personally, face
to face if at all possible and really meaning it.

Us Brits find all this difficult, we tend to retreat fro m gush into a set formula
and pretty soon our donors think “I’ve read this before somewhere. Like the last
time I gave and didn’t my other charity say just the same thing?” We can do better
than that and if we are serious about donor retention this is the time to overhaul
our whole thanking process, pick up the phone, set up those lunches and practice
saying it a few times in different ways first. Then when you get to the point feel
and speak – the right words will come.

Right now – Gather!

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And one more thing: my person bête noir is being asked to give by a person I respect
and getting a thank-you letter back from someone else. So, check the system for 
speed of delivery (3 days max), very the content, vary the delivery and make sure
we are all putting the effort into thanking as personally as we can.

Thank you again our Kate…

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