By: Ashly Stewart, Content Marketing Manager

GivingTuesday social images? Check. Annual report finalized? Check. Email campaign written and scheduled…almost.  

GivingTuesday is November 30 this year, which means many associations and nonprofits are getting ready to put their yearly campaign into action for a day that’s becoming increasingly important to their organizations.  

In fact, trends in Google Search terms around “GivingTuesday,” and national giving trends indicate that $3.48 Billion will be raised on GivingTuesday 2021 — a 27% increase over 2020’s record-breaking $2.4 Billion. 

But what comes after the big day? How can we possibly begin saying “thank you” to our members and donors who so generously give to our missions, especially after such a rough couple of years?  

We’re glad you asked. It’s something we’ve been thinking about as part of our Member Appreciation series, and we have a few good ideas for showing appreciation to your community as a follow-up to GivingTuesday.  

4 ways to show gratitude to your community after GivingTuesday 

1. Include real-time impact information in your follow-up emails 

With the craziness of the holiday season, some organizations proactively write and schedule their GivingTuesday email campaign, including follow-up emails, in advance. We think that’s great! We also think it’s a good idea to include information regarding your community’s impact on your association and GivingTuesday as the event progresses, even if the early numbers don’t seem that significant.  

The most impactful number to share is data related to donations. You can show impact by  saying something like: “$50 dollars has been donated!” or “We’ve had 5 community members  volunteer their time to next month’s fundraiser.” But if you’re having trouble gathering your organization’s real-time contributions, you could also take advantage of the “Impact” section of  GivingTuesday’s official website to get some of the latest overall donation numbers.  

So remember to leave a placeholder in your scheduled follow-up emails to include a snapshot of your ongoing impact. Few things make people feel appreciated for their hard work and investment than seeing the difference that they’re making.  

2. Go old school with a follow-up postcard or small thank you gift 

Even though email is one of the most popular ways to spread the word about GivingTuesday, people still enjoy an old-fashioned, personal gift. You could send a follow-up postcard to all your members with the impact information or a quick testimonial from someone who’s been positively affected by the community’s giving.  

You could also consider writing a personalized letter to donors. If you have the time and resources, send a thank-you gift like a Starbucks gift card or a mug or t-shirt with your organization’s logo on it to show appreciation. You could even take a tiered approach to send gifts so that people who donated a certain money amount or volunteered for specific events or programs get specific gifts.  

3. Send an appreciative video or playlist 

Showing appreciation through a hand-written letter or mailed package is delightful, but the digital age means we can send a gift that can be just as meaningful and effective in saying “thanks.” Like a letter, the personal touch of video is unmatched when it comes to feeling appreciated.  

You can send individual “thank you” videos to specific donors by recording and storing them on free tools like YouTube or using affordable options like Vimeo, and then sending them in an email. You could also record and post social videos on your social platforms to keep your community updated and express your gratitude throughout your entire GivingTuesday campaign. And don’t forget to post all videos in your online community or on a dedicated GivingTuesday page on your website.  

And videos aren’t the only digital gifts that keep on giving. You can get creative with virtual “thank you” gifts like e-gift cards and playlists that you can post in emails or on social. You could have fun creating your own music playlist or find some that have already been made on Spotify like this one:  

4. Send a “special edition” GivingTuesday newsletter 

Newsletters are having a moment right now. It’s the perfect piece of content for people who like information, but dislike having to spend hours looking for information that they trust and enjoy. This makes newsletters a great vehicle to get members excited about GivingTuesday, communicate the results, and say “thanks” to everyone.  

In addition to the regular news you include in your newsletter, your GivingTuesday issue could include an impact report from last year’s GivingTuesday, a fun infographic showing your 2021 donation goals, an article that introduces different efforts donations will help kickstart or improve, and interviews or testimonials from members of the community.  

Since newsletters give you a little more space to thank members, you can list the names of all the people who donated money, their time, and their skills to the organization.  

Show member appreciation all year long 

With only a couple of weeks until Thanksgiving, it’s easy to see the good in others and express gratitude to the people who have been a bright spot in a tough year.  

Even though this blog is the last in our member appreciation series, we hope you’ll join us in finding ways to thank, engage, and retain your members throughout the year.  

Want to thank your most dedicated members and build a stronger community? Check out our online community solution that helps you connect with members at any time, from anywhere.  

The post 4 Ways to Follow Up with Supporters After GivingTuesday appeared first on Personify.

Our first blog in our member appreciation series gave you the latest stats and quotes from association leaders like you who are looking to show a little bit of gratitude to their members in a season of thanksgiving.  

And even though a simple “thank you” makes anyone’s day, associations and nonprofits are looking to go a little above and beyond for their members after a challenging 2021.   

But what does going “above and beyond” look like when members have seen it all?  

We think it has less to do with the tactics and more about making your appreciation efforts personalized for your members and your association.  

Here are some of the top ways we’ve seen associations say “thanks” to members with some new ideas and tools you can craft for your appreciation campaigns.  

Showing Member Appreciation Through Gifts 

1. Personalized Letters 

I know. You’re probably not thinking that writing a personalized, handwritten letter is exactly new. In fact, it’s one of the oldest gifts in the book. But what is new is your association’s ability to use data to send personalized letters at momentous moments in your members’ lives.  

When it comes to milestones in your members’ journey with your association you can send a written letter of thanks and acknowledgment to events like:  

• Welcome letters for new members  
• Joining anniversary letters 
• Donation letters 
• Renewal letters 
• Referral appreciation letters 

Beyond sending a personalized letter for moments related to your association, you can personalize letters for things like: 

• Birthday letters 
• New job letters (if they update their member directory profiles) 
• “Thanks for attending” letters as a follow-up to your flagship event 

We recognize that writing handwritten letters takes time and resources, so we recommend choosing a couple of milestones for personalized letters, and don’t be shy about recruiting volunteers or even a special task force dedicated to member appreciation.  

And if all else fails, you can send personalized emails.  

2. Care Packages

In the marketing world, we refer to care packages as “direct mail kits” which speaks to the format of these gifts — you are mailing them a little box or package of goodies. But “care package” definitely sounds closer to what we’re hoping to accomplish in sending these gifts: showing thanks and care.  

Care packages don’t have to be big or expensive. We’ve seen small care packages that include a note and a gift card. We’ve seen other care packages sent with the purpose of inviting members to an event, and those can include notebooks, pens, and a mug, things that event attendees would appreciate.  

No matter what you decide to send, we’re confident you can find a care package that suits your budget. And while you may not be able to send a care package to every member, sending care packages in cohorts to show appreciation throughout the year will be easier on your staff and your budget. 

Here are a couple of guidelines for a successful care package: 

• If your association has some “swag” items like branded t-shirts, mugs, bags, etc. it’s always fun to include those in a care package.  
• If you have a piece of content you’re particularly proud of like an annual impact report or newsletter, it’s nice to include a printed piece, even though it’s a little old-school. 
• Include something fun! People especially love if there’s a little gift in there for a pet or kids.  

3. Event VIP gifts

If you have members who have are super attendees of your big events or they volunteer to help, send them a special VIP gift as a thank you. It could be an exclusive invite to a social hour happening before or after the event. It could be discounted materials and merchandise from your store or an exhibitor’s booth. It could be as simple as a gift card to a local restaurant near the event venue.  

4. Email a playlist

Not every gift has to be extravagant or labor-intensive. You can email a themed playlist that aligns with the season and the holidays or a special “thank you” playlist full of fun, upbeat songs. These days, it’s as easy as creating a public playlist on Spotify, copying the embed link, and placing it in the email.  

Here’s an example:  

5. Email a recipe

Giving the gift of food is always a win, but it can be hard to send food in care packages because the quality of the food may be affected during shipping, and you just never know what food allergies people may have.  

Instead, you can give the gift of food in the form of recipes you include in an email! Even better if you can include recipes shared by your members over social media or in your online community.  

Showing Member Appreciation Through Recognition 

6. Declare a member appreciation day or week

We’ve been seeing dedicated member appreciation days or weeks more and more. The duration of the member appreciation event isn’t as important as making sure you’re planning for some activities that your members will enjoy and your staff can support.  

If you’re looking at a member appreciation day or week, here are some ideas and strategies to get you started: 

• Show appreciation by giving members a shoutout on social media throughout the day or week. You could recognize members’ contributions to the wider cause and to your association. 

• Start a member appreciation discussion thread on your online community and use it as a type of “praise jar” where staff and members can give kudos to one another.   

• Plan a contest or two to make it fun. You can select random winners of a gift card or swag item for members who share what they appreciate about each other or the association, or ask trivia questions about past member spotlights. Don’t forget to create and promote a fun hashtag to help sort through all your posts. #personifyappreciatesyou 

• Dedicate either a portion of a newsletter or a temporary page on your website where you can share images of members working together, post screenshots or paste some of the member appreciation kudos you’re seeing across social and your online community, and declare winners to your member appreciation contests.  

7. Monthly member spotlights

To keep the spirit of member appreciation going all year long, commit to highlighting a member across your most popular channels. Include a member spotlight on a main page of your website, the homepage of your online community, and your social media profiles.  

The spotlights don’t have to be in-depth. You can draw from information in their member profiles and reach out for a few additional questions. And remember to include a profile picture!  

8. Online Community

We’ve mentioned an online community as a great channel for member appreciation a lot because we’re finding that more and more members are interacting with each other and their associations on these dedicated communities.  

In addition to discussion threads dedicated to member appreciation and member spotlights on the main page, many online communities include gamification features that can make members feel seen. See if your online community has the ability to create badging that indicates levels of participation and frequency of posting or leader boards that acknowledge your members’ engagement.   

Are you looking to start or refresh an online community? Get the essential guide to building an online community. 

Showing Member Appreciation Through Growth Opportunities 

9. Job listings

Featuring a job board has been mutually beneficial to members, partners, and associations. A job board allows members’ businesses with urgent hiring needs to get in front of qualified jobseekers.  

It also highlights new opportunities for members who are looking for jobs, and it’s an opportunity for additional revenue for the association as members can pay a fee to feature their listings. Few things show your members you’re grateful for them and want them to succeed like a job board.  

10. Mentorship programs

Speaking of wanting your members to succeed, implementing relevant mentorship or support groups that meet regularly helps build community and is one of the most tangible values an association can give to its members.  

These types of programs can be a one-on-one mentorship program or small support groups, whichever format works best for your team and your members.  

Wondering how to build a virtual, low-cost mentorship program? Check out this case study. 

11. Accessibility

We’ve come a long way when it comes to building communities, content, and experiences that are accessible to people of different abilities and backgrounds. But we still have a long way to go.  

Many associations have recently started exploring ways to make their member communications and campaigns accessible by doing things like adding transcripts to webinars, including closed captioning on all their videos, and building visuals like infographics and video tutorials to support their written work.  

If you want to make your member appreciation emails and strategies more accessible, consider sending a thank you video with closed captioning from services like Otter or Rev.  

Keep the gratitude going!

We hope you enjoyed the second blog in our series about member appreciation, and we look forward to our next blog about saying “thank you” to members and donors after a successful Giving Tuesday. 

And if you have any questions about member appreciation and engagement, don’t hesitate to reach out.

The post 11 New Ideas and Tools for Showing Member Appreciation appeared first on Personify.

Looking for new ideas to show your members you appreciate them? Get inspired by these latest stats and quotes.  

By: Ashly Stewart, Content Marketing Manager

It’s officially November, and after another interesting year, it feels great to be entering a season of thanks and gratitude! 

The interesting thing about this time of the year is that, while it’s a time where people tend to be a little more reflective, a little more kind, and a little more grateful — it’s also a time of planning, budgeting, and fundraising for associations and nonprofits with the holidays, annual events, and Giving Tuesday on the horizon.  

To help strike a healthy balance of practicing gratitude while also continuing to help you plan for the rest of the year, we’re doing a special blog series throughout the month of November.  

We’ll be posting about the latest trends and stats, best practices, and new ideas for showing your members some love. We hope you’ll join us as we post every week about how your association can properly thank and grow your membership! 

This week, we rounded up some of the latest member appreciation stats and quotes that has the internet buzzing.  

1. Appreciation makes the majority of Americans “extremely happy”.

Over 90% of American teens and adults indicated that expressing gratitude made them “extremely happy” or “somewhat happy”. 

2. When it comes to appreciation, associations can look to the consumer world for inspiration.

91% of respondents said they are also more likely to do business with companies that appreciate their customers. 

3. While organizations are getting better at showing appreciation to customers and members, there’s still room for improvement. 

62% said that most businesses they’ve dealt with have done a good job of showing customer appreciation. 

4. Younger generations value appreciation more than other demographics.

We all want to be recognized and appreciated for our hard work. But millennials, in particular, crave recognition more than any other demographic. 

5. You can’t beat an ol’ fashion phone call for the ultimate “thank you” gesture…

“Personal calls are the best. For us, each institution has a different stakeholder so one-on-one  communications makes the biggest difference.” – Trade Association Professional 

6. …but many associations have seen a lot of success in sending member appreciation and renewal emails.

78% of associations indicate that email marketing is the most effective marketing channel for member appreciation and renewals. 

7. Showing appreciation can result in a better work environment and more donations!

A study conducted by  the Harvard Medical School described the positive results of  an experiment showing the power of appreciation: 

“Researchers randomly divided university fund-raisers into two groups. One group made phone calls to solicit alumni donations in the same way they always had. The second group—assigned to work on a different day—received a pep talk from the director of annual giving, who told the fund-raisers she was grateful for their efforts. During the following week, the university employees who heard her  message of gratitude made 50% more fund-raising calls than those who did not.” 

Stay tuned for more member appreciation ideas and strategies all November

Come back to the blog next week where we’re breaking down some of the best practices and new ideas for saying “thank you” to your members.  

And in the meantime, here’s an interactive guide to help you think about different ways to show appreciation to different types of members.  

Sources: 

1. HALO 

2. Atym 

3. ResearchGate 

4. Marketing General Incorporated 

5. Emergenetics 

The post 7 Member Appreciation Stats You Need to Know appeared first on Personify.