![]() By Linda B. Haley, CFRE, President & CEO Man, there are moments I cannot believe how this year has turned out and how very lucky I am. Let’s Build Hope has grown like crazy, and we’ve been blessed with 15 amazing, dedicated, caring, smart, strategic, thoughtful, openminded leaders and teammates. What a gift! We normally use our blogs to share great tips of the trade we’ve learned – both from our personal successes AND our failures. We believe that showing authentically who we are – flaws and all – makes us better partners with the nonprofits we have the privilege to serve. Who tops your gratitude list today? And what in this year has been your biggest win…and your most spectacular flop? Remembering that our teammates can be our most important champions – when we soar and when we tank – might be one of the greatest learning experiences of the year for me. So I’m going to end the year with profound gratitude for a host of people and teams who have helped us move forward.
From LBH and from me, I hope you have a wonderful holiday season, however you celebrate. I encourage you to stop after you’ve read this and write your own love letter to those who have rocked your world this year. Here’s hoping (see what I did there? 😊) 2023 is going to be our best year yet! With thanks and hope, Linda #LBH #LetsBuildHope #TrueGratitude #LoveLetter #AmazingCommunity #FantasticVendors #InspiringClients #LBHTeammates #NewYearHope #GlimmersOfHope #Blog
0 Comments
![]() By Michele Mosley, MSW, GrantsPLUS Consultant ‘Tis the season for holiday greetings and heartfelt messages of appreciation to your supporters. As you put the final touches on your beautiful, glittery cards, make sure not to forget about the grantmakers supporting your organization's work! Remember that foundation officers and admin staff are people, too, and should be cultivated like your other donors (unless you’re working with a large corporate or federal funder that actually lets you know that they DON’T care to receive correspondence from you aside from your scheduled reports – save your postage on them). As someone who has been on both sides of the philanthropic table, feverishly sending out holiday cards with my nonprofit development team, and also receiving greetings from grantees as a foundation program manager, I’ve developed great appreciation for the time and energy that goes into correspondence this time of year. Here are a few tips to stand out by helping grantmakers smile this holiday season: DO
DON’T
You’ll notice there are no Dos or Don’ts with regard to “snail mail” versus electronic correspondence because it completely depends on the preferences of your audience. Generally, a lot of people appreciate getting traditional mail, especially if it’s personalized and it’s not soliciting them for anything. Some, especially the more environmentally conscious among us, might prefer to receive e-greeting cards. Either way, you risk both forms of communication getting lost in the holiday clutter, which is why trying to schedule or make an impromptu end of year call might really help you to stand out (it could also be much more cost effective, depending on your staff bandwidth). Ultimately, try to learn and understand your audience, funder or not. Think about what you enjoy seeing, hearing, and/or feeling during the holiday season. Does the correspondence you’re sending out make you smile? Would you want to be on the receiving end of your glittery card? If the answer is, “Meh, not really,” you might reconsider your approach. Questions about how to cultivate relationships with your funding partners? Contact Let’s Build Hope: (314) 716-2496 or LetsBuildHope@lbh-stl.com. #LBH #LetsBuildHope #Grants #MakeGrantmakersSmileThisHolidaySeason #SeasonsGreetings #GlimmersOfHope #Blog |
Archives
January 2023
Categories |