What You’ll Learn
- How to write a pledge confirmation message
- How to write a fundraising thank-you letter
- How to chase pledges so they become contributions
Why This is Important
If you don’t follow up with donors, most of your pledges will never materialize. And then once they do come in, you absolutely must thank them for contributing. We’ll show you how to spend a couple hours up front to systematize these follow-up and thank-you processes to save you whole days over the course of your campaign.
Key Resources
- Pledge Confirmation Email Checklist
- Sample: Nicole Strong Pledge Confirmation Email
- Sample: Aisha Iqbal Template Donation Thank-You Letter
- Thank-You Letter Rubric
- Sample: Nicole Strong Thank-You Letter Template
Related Trainings
- Staffing Call Time — Taking good notes in call time is critical to being able to follow up with donors and collect their pledges
- Managing Your Fundraising Data — Learn how to keep your data organized and clean to make your follow-up tasks more efficient
Dallas Thompson
Trainer
Dallas is the Chief of Staff at STG, where she leads the operations and human resources team, ensuring that the firm is able to deliver excellence to their clients and continue to make change in the world. She has more than a decade of management and fundraising experience in both the political and nonprofit fields.
In 2016, Dallas was Hillary Clinton's Operations Director in North Carolina, where she oversaw operations of a 400-strong team working to elect Democrats up and down the ticket. She also served as the Finance Director for the New Hampshire Democratic Party, National Director of Fundraising Development for Leadership for Educational Equity, and Development Director for the New Organizing Institute, and did fundraising for a number of Democratic campaigns in North Carolina prior to that.
She is also the founding partner of Bright Compass, a consulting firm that works to improve the safety and compliance of progressive workplaces, providing anti-sexual harassment training, HR consulting, and strategic operations management. A native of North Carolina, she now lives in Washington, D.C. with her two cats, Mindy Katling and Ruth Bader Kittensburg.