Yay for Us!

Keep your accomplishments in front of your donors frequently. Communicate in these meaningful ways.
• Graphs and pictures
• Data: number of people served, number of books purchased, and number of families counseled. Think of creative ways—tonight 30 families are putting their children to sleep in their own bed, in their own home because of you—is more effective than—you helped 30 homeless families
• Stories

And while we frequently mention sharing with donors, make sure to share stories with your staff and Board as well. We sometimes think the staff hears of the successes in the course of their day, but often they don’t. Celebrate even the small successes. They will appreciate the encouragement.

Be clear in your communications. Make sure any pie charts and graphs are easily understandable. Test them out on someone outside of your organization.
Don’t try to obscure bad news by making your data difficult to understand. It will frustrate donors and make them think you are hiding something. Its better to explain the situation with a footnote, as in, services to homeless women declined last year because of turnover in staff personnel. Then explain what you are doing to improve—new staff have been hired and we look forward to reaching out to provide homeless women with the resources they need to become self sufficient.

Talk to your donors and grantors and find out what key information they want to know about your organization. Make sure this information is communicated to them at various points of contact in concise ways. You can communicate this in donor appeal letters, your newsletter, on your website, and your donor thank you notes. We receive so much information today that clear repetition is the best way to ensure that your message is heard.