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Looking for something in particular? Search through the blog posts below. N.B. Use “Letter” to search for thank you letters, I’ve used both “thank-you” and “thank you” which confuses the search engine!
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Summer Stewardship Check-in
A sample letter for summer stewardship. A prayerful and grateful reminder that the church’s ministry of worship, prayer and hospitality continues throughout the summer!
Thank you letters with annual receipts
Writing a thank-you letter with annual receipts: a joyful guide for church and charity
How to make a thank you call
Sincerity is essential; eloquence is optional.
It’s more important to actually pick up the phone and make the call, than to prepare the perfect words. You can do this!
Pray first, then write the thank-you letter
Giving is a spiritual discipline like prayer. Both are lifelong practices, and there’s always something new to discover.
Once you can write an offering prayer, you can write a thank-you letter. Both are grateful acknowledgements of everything we have received from God, and the blessing of being able to share with God’s people.
ABCs: Annual Blessing of Charitable receipts - Part 3, Thank-you letters
There is no need to send a thank-you letter if you don’t care whether or not the donor gives again. That’s the fundraising angle, but to me this is a theological question. If you’re not grateful to God for the person’s contribution to your church, why is that? Each donation tells a story. Someone cares enough about your organization to send money. Your ministry is that important to them.
ABCs: Annual Blessing of Charitable Receipts, Part 2 - Gift info
For many charities and churches, it’s time to prepare charitable tax receipts. This blog continues a series on turning the chore of annual receipts into a blessing.
ABCs: Annual Blessing of Charitable receipts - Part 1, Donor info
People *actually open* the receipt letter, or the email. They are paying attention! Please, please, please seize this opportunity to include a thank-you letter! The only exception I can think of would be if your church or charity doesn’t care whether this donor gives again or not. This blog begins a three-part series on turning the chore of annual receipts into a blessing. The goal is both accurate and grateful communication.
Eleven ways a church can send thank you cards
Generosity starts with a grateful heart.
How can churches say thank you? Sending a thank you card is an easy starting point. Here are eleven ways to use thank you cards.
Thank-you letters for people who didn’t give
If you give a wedding gift, you expect to receive a thank-you note. It’s common courtesy. If you don’t give a gift, you generally don’t get a thank-you note. Obvious, right? However, in church giving often nobody gets a thank-you note. Nobody gets thanked. Really. In many churches, donors get an annual receipt with no thank-you letter. But I’m proposing here that everybody gets a thank-you note. Here’s why: gratitude generally and thank-you letters in particular make a good springboard into generosity.
How long does it take a charity to thank donors?
The hand-written notes appeared a month before the prefab letters. It seems paradoxical, but apparently a personal note is much quicker to write than a generic boilerplate.
This little experiment has shown how important thank-you letters are. I feel like if I didn't give again to some of these charities, they wouldn't notice.