When you work in political fundraising, saying “thank you” should be one of the most common things you do. Thanking your donors is critical, and if you want to build lasting donor relationships, you need to make them feel appreciated. There’s no better way to do this than by sending a handwritten card in the mail. But showing client and donor appreciation doesn’t stop there.
So today we’re diving deep into how you can up your thank-you game. By applying a little extra effort, using technology, and thinking about your post-election touches, you can significantly increase the number of positive interactions that both you and your candidate have with their supporters.
Let’s start by addressing thank you notes at the staff level. As a political fundraiser based in Nevada for the long term, I’ve made it a practice to send thank-you notes to all of my event hosts and to the donors who go above and beyond to support my clients. These are donors that I plan on engaging for years, and sending a thank-you note is a simple way to have a nice touch after each big interaction.
Thank-you cards should be in every finance director’s toolkit — as Maya Angelou once said, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
Now, most campaign staff are road warriors and travel from state to state to work on the next best thing. If that’s you, there’s still strong utility in building donor relationships across the country that you can utilize for your next race.
If your handwriting is good, I’d recommend getting simple stationery that you can quickly put to work each week. Letting hosts know how much they raised, or a donor who maxed out how much you and your candidate appreciate their help is the least you can do. Moreover, it helps you build a network of donors who like working with you and may be helpful in future races.
Sending thank-you notes at the staff level also helps you think like a traditional non-profit fundraiser. These professionals are focused on building their independent relationships with donors that they can then build a portfolio from and take to their next job. Having relationships that you’ve invested time and energy into will help enhance your fundraising anywhere you go.
Now, if your handwriting is bad like mine, or if you’re looking for a quick and efficient way to send out a thank-you note, I’d recommend checking out a robo-writing service. Companies like Postable, Handwrytten, and Simply Noted allow you to pay a small fee, and they will get to work on writing your note, adding a stamp, and dropping it in the mail.
Robo-notes can also be an effective tool in your arsenal for candidate touches. I won’t say who, but one of our top clients uses a robo-writing service for all of their thank-you cards. Each Friday, staff pulls our list of contributors at $500 or above for the past week and uses a template to order a robo-card sent to them the next week (we send a postcard to donors at lower amounts). This saves our candidate a lot of time and ensures that donors are promptly thanked and recognized.
One of the most common forms of thank you notes on large campaigns are form letters. These are mail merged documents that are put together from a spreadsheet and scream “low effort.”
If your candidate is using these to thank donors, please make sure they at least do a personal signature and include a handwritten note on the side. If possible, consider using a robo-writing service instead of a form letter. Very few people will catch that it’s not someone’s real handwriting, and it will go much farther than a generic letter.
Another innovative way to make your supporters feel appreciated is to set up an automated postcard system. Using ActBlue webhooks, an automation platform like Zapier, and a print vendor that takes orders via API, you can set up an automation that will send every ActBlue donor a postcard thanking them for their contribution. It costs very little, but ensures that all of your online supporters are promptly recognized. Remember, thanking your donors is the first thing you must do before you ask them to give again.
With the election just weeks away, it’ll soon be time to send out a post-election thank you letter. Win or lose, donors deserve to hear from your candidate after the election and get a quick post-mortem on all the results. For candidates who win and will be on the ballot again in a few years, this is an important touch that helps set the stage up for when fundraising begins again. For candidates who lose, this helps solidify relationships and is a nice touch that can help power fundraising for a future campaign or help the candidate find their next job. After all, they just built a huge network of people invested in their success.
Lastly, as we approach the holidays, I’d strongly recommend having your candidates include their donors in any family holiday cards that they send out. It’s really important to have touches with your supporters outside of soliciting them for money, and a holiday card is an easy way to accomplish this. It helps humanize your candidate and sets the stage for an ask in the new year.
Donors give generously and often, in return, get little-to-no recognition. When the default standard is merely a thank-you line on an ActBlue receipt, both you and your candidate can easily stand out from the rest by sending written notes and making your donors feel appreciated. A little bit of added effort goes a long way.
Kalani Tissot is a political fundraiser and consultant based in Las Vegas, Nevada. Through his firm, Tissot Solutions LLC, Kalani raises money for democratic & non-partisan candidates and mission oriented causes.
