This is one of our NO ASK fundraising strategies for board members. It's a great way for board members to impact the bottom line directly – without soliciting. The next time you send out an appeal, employ your standard thank you processes. But select out a random group of donors for a special thank you treatment:

- Select board members to make thank you calls to donors within 24 hours of gift's receipt.
- Have them talk to a real person.
- After several tries, just leave a message that simply thanks the donor.
- The phone calls are NOT about asking for another gift. They are for stewardship only.

A few months later, send another solicitation out to all of your donors – both the ones who received the extra thank you phone call and those who just received your regular thank yous. You'll find that the donors who received a prompt, personal thank you from a board member within 24 hours of a gift being received will give up to 39% more than the other group.

Read research and tips on using this tactic, as well as success stories, by clicking here.

START THE CONVERSATION! What 'thank you' processes does your organization use? Do you have any experiences using the above tactic?

We do thank-you calls too, but our students call, not board members. We leave an answer on voice mail the first time if they don't answer. People LOVE coming home to a nice message! Also, it relieves our complaints from donors asking why we called 5 times (they see that on their caller ID).