The Nonprofit Gratitude Report | Why Your Donors Will Love Yours

Picture it. The year was 2003, and I’d just been hired as a dedicated grant writer for a wonderful organization serving women and children. Like many of us in small nonprofits, I wore a lot of hats.

So, when my boss found out I’d been a graphic designer in a former life, and still had the software, you can guess what happened next.

She handed me the job of the annual report — with two weeks to write AND design it from scratch.

Oh, and did I mention we’d just gone through a complete rebrand? (Riggghhhht, their fundraising had been neglected so long that an expensive rebrand was the answer 🙄🙄) And that our old outcome data was now deemed too unreliable to use?

I thought of President Kennedy’s famous words:

“When written in Chinese, the word ‘crisis’ is composed of two characters. One represents danger, and the other represents opportunity.”

So I looked for the opportunity hiding inside the crisis. And I flipped the whole thing upside down.

Instead of talking about the organization, I put the spotlight entirely on the donor. Their support. Their through their support impact. Their stories. I reached out to individuals, foundations, even government agencies — and let the gratitude pour out.

The result? The board loved it. Donors called to say thank you to us. And yes — it raised money.

I’ve been sold on Gratitude Reports over Annual Reports ever since. Whenever a great one crosses my radar, I can’t wait to share it with you.

So What Exactly IS a Gratitude Report?

Think of it as the anti-annual report. You know the typical nonprofit annual report. Glossy pages of jargon. Statistics piled on statistics. A list of board members. And — oh yes — that photo of someone holding an oversized check with a big cheesy grin.

Yes, it fits the bill for an annual report. But donors either skim it or toss it. What if you could inspire them instead?

A Gratitude Report is different. It’s written at a 5th or 6th grade reading level. It generally leads with a story — usually one person whose life changed because of your donor’s gift. And every single element points back to the donor.

You did this. Your support made this possible. Thank you.

Simple. Warm. And it works.

Over on Lessons from Motivate Monday | What Is a Gratitude Report?, I go deep on the core elements that make these reports sing.

The Results Speak for Themselves

Take this post-COVID Gratitude Report for Health Wagon — an organization serving the medically underserved in the mountains of Appalachia. It led with the story of one man named Steve, sick and suffering alone during the pandemic.

Over the course of a year, that Gratitude Report raised nearly $1 million.

Or check out what I still consider the most moving Gratitude Report I’ve ever seen. Prepare to be inspired.

And don’t miss these two real-world examples:

Ready to Write Yours?

You’ve got the idea. But maybe you don’t have the time, or the design and writing support, to pull it off.

An experienced fundraising copywriting professional is available to help you craft a Gratitude Report your donors will actually read and respond to. Click here to book your free call.

Tagged as: Donor centered fundraising, Gratitude Report, nonprofit annual report, nonprofit direct mail, nonprofit stewardship, What's in my mailbox