Research Shows Importance of Saying 'Thanks'

Posted: Dec 1, 2004

You've heard it before and it's true, thanking your donors is the single best way to secure donor loyalty.

To test the importance of prompt gift acknowledgement, Peggy Burk, a fundraising consultant, conducted a "Thanks Test" in conjunction with the Ontario chapter of the Canadian Paraplegic Association (CPA). The association sent out a direct mail piece that pulled a typical one percent response rate and brought in 1,965 new donors. The average donation on the acquisition mailing was $26.28. From the pool of new donors, they selected a test group of 222 people -- roughly every tenth donor. Within 24 hours of receiving their gift, a CPA board member called the donors in the test group to thank them for their gift.

Three months later, the CPA solicited all donors again and found that the test group donors' average gift was 39% higher than that of the control group. The average donation from the test group was $34.24, while the average from the control group was $24.59.

The longer term results are equally impressive. After 14 months and six more solicitations, the value of the average gift from the test group was $35.00, versus $24.57 from the control group, a difference of 42%. Anecdotal feedback also indicated that many test donors focused their giving on the CPA more specifically and stopped giving to other organizations following the one-on-one contact.

Burk notes that some organizations have replicated the test with slight variations. Follow-up tests have found that it's safe to call to say thanks within 48 hours of receiving a gift. However, if you leave the thank-you call longer than that, donors think that you're calling to ask for another donation. Some organizations have also had success calling people much later to thank them for being a donor, rather than to acknowledge a specific gift.

This study is cited in a longer article at Charity Village Archived Articles
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