Donor Stewardship Tips

Donor Stewardship begins before you receive your first donations on Amplify Austin Day! When you are first building out your Amplify Austin Day profile you should start to think about how you can use the information you provide to foster future Donor Stewardship efforts. Work on utilizing your story, donation levels, and custom thank you message to foster a greater sense of connection and relationship-building with your supporters! As you plan your communications for the giving day, take time to decide how you will thank donors that give through AmplifyATX.org. Make sure you consider how you will make new donors feel welcomed into your mission and community. Take a look through our Amplify Austin Day Workbook to brainstorm ideas.

If you are already working to engage your board in your Amplify Austin Day efforts, then you should also utilize them in your stewardship goals! If you have rallied your Board members to be peer-to-peer fundraisers for Amplify Austin Day, they should also be engaged in thanking those donors who contributed to their individual campaigns! Share sample thank you notes and call scripts with your Board members at your next meeting or host a get-together specifically targeted to training your Board in the wonderful ways of donor stewardship!

Showing genuine, timely, and regular donor appreciation is a huge part of maintaining strong relationships with your supporters! A “thank you” message following a donation for Amplify Austin Day should be standard practice. On your Amplify Austin Day profile editor, you will be able to create a custom “Thank You” message during your Amplify Austin Day profile completion process. However, the gratitude should not stop there! Hand-written thank yous and thank-you calls can be even more impactful and everlasting! In addition to the standardized thank you message that is included with your donor’s online donation receipt, consider sending out a more personalized message a few weeks to a month after Amplify Austin Day.

This email should include your donor’s name and other personalized features. Tell them how their gift is changing or improving the services you provide as a nonprofit. If possible, show them the impact their gift is making with concrete images or stories. Use our sample thank you cards and calls to drive your thank-you campaign.

Donor Stewardship and the gratitude that you show for your donors does not begin and end with Amplify Austin Day. Rather, it is about starting a dialogue with your donors that makes them feel as though they are a concrete part of your organization and community.

You can start this dialogue by asking your donors how they prefer to be contacted (phone, email, text message, etc.) and then proceed to contact them in that way. Showing initial respect for their preferences will go a long way.

After Amplify Austin Day schedule regular touchpoints on your annual calendar to ensure that you are staying consistently engaged with your donors.

• Make it a point to share images and updates on projects that your donors’ contributions are directly helping to fund.
• Organize reminders to reach out to your supporters on special dates, like anniversaries, birthdays, or major milestones for your organization.
• Keep the dialogue going with creative ways to show continued and sustainable gratitude throughout the year.

Ask your donors for feedback and be a responsive and active listener by monitoring your social channels and emails to keep track of popular suggestions. Make sure you follow up with your donors and inform them of how you are using your feedback to move forward.

Amplify Austin Day is a great opportunity to meet new donors, advocates, and volunteers. Make sure your profile is up to date with any available volunteer opportunities or events so that site-users can continue to learn about your organization and find new ways to get involved any day of the year. In 2021, I Live Here I Give Here and GiveGab have launched a new integration with VolunteerMatch. VolunteerMatch connects volunteers to nonprofit organizations with active volunteer opportunities through their online platform. Now, any volunteer listing an ILHIGH Nonprofit Member has made on VolunteerMatch will automatically be added to the nonprofit's AmplifyATX.org year-round profile. 

• Learn more about VolunteerMatch and how to recruit volunteers here. 
• Manually add volunteer and event opportunities to your AmplifyATX.org profile by following these instructions.