Finding different ways to engage with audiences is an exciting and important part of working in charity communications. We want the people who support us to know that we are here and listening, and that we value all their support. One way that we at the international disaster relief charity ShelterBox like to do this is with a Thank You Day.
An annual tradition to personally thank many of our supporters our Thank You Day (on Wednesday 7 December) keeps us humble. It reminds everyone who works for ShelterBox where our support and funding come from – that golden thread that makes our responses in Ukraine, Pakistan, Ethiopia, and Yemen possible. And it’s also a chance to make sure our supporters know how highly they are valued.
Here’s just some of the reasons why we love saying Thank You at ShelterBox and how you could make it work for you too…
Thank You days foster genuine engagement
It’s not uncommon practice across the charity sector, and at ShelterBox we’ve been holding Thank You Days since 2015 – inspired ourselves by organisations doing similar. It came from a desire to increase engagement with our supporters, and it is an approach that fits well with our charity.
There’s an ecosystem that makes charities work and it starts with supporters: people who donate time, energy, money and backing to what we do. Charities are very grassroots in that sense. If it wasn’t for the generosity of our supporters, their energy, their ideas, and their donations ShelterBox would not be here today. As a charity that specialises in emergency shelter for people across the world who lose their homes to disaster or conflict, we are proud of what we do. But we certainly wouldn’t have achieved all that we are so proud of – helping more than two million people across around 100 countries since we were formed in 2000 without our supporters.
Our gratitude continues long after a donation is made, or a thank you letter has been sent – and we want our supporters to know the extent of our gratitude. We want them to know how critical their support is to being able to help people across the world who must flee their homes – whether that’s because of conflict, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, or extreme weather events like hurricanes, flooding, landslides, or drought. We just want to say thank you in a meaningful way.
Thank You days are a chance to get everyone involved
Everyone in the organisation takes the time to phone and personally thank their supporters
It’s such a positive and electric day in the calendar. It’s a coming together moment where we can connect with each other and with our supporters. Colleagues from fundraising and logistics and finance and operations are all able to share their experiences with supporters and in turn, they share their experiences right back. You really do get a feeling of the whole picture of how ShelterBox works: it starts with our supporters and it ends with the people who have been displaced receiving support. That really is something to marvel about on Thank You Day.
We have different roles for people depending on their availability and confidence, but we ask that everyone calls at least five supporters. The engine of our Thank You Day is our ‘Thank You Day Champions’ who personally speak and engage with a lot of people, and provide support to staff members who are less confident.
Some of our wonderful, long-standing volunteers also get involved too. It’s an opportunity for them to provide supporters with such a unique insight into our world and we’ve been told supporters get a big kick out of those conversations.
Thank You days reinvigorate and inspire
At ShelterBox we find the build up to a Thank You Day is palpable, and throughout the day itself the excitement grows as staff share their interactions with colleagues through Teams chat. For us, it becomes a platform for people to share stories and reactions from our supporters, motivates people to make more calls, and drives more people to get involved in a meaningful way.
Sometimes supporters can be a little guarded when they first receive a call but once they realise that you are not selling or asking for anything they quickly become very open and appreciate the thank you. We are guided by the supporter so if keeping it brief works best then we do that, if they are open to deep diving into what their support has allowed ShelterBox to achieve then we can do that also. It’s a thank you for the supporter so we do whatever we need to do to so that gratitude is heard.
Our Thank You day is also a window into our supporters lives and that’s what makes it so exciting.
One year we spoke to a supporter who was in the early stages of labour and was thrilled to be hearing from ShelterBox at a very special time in her life. On another occasion, we spoke to a supporter who was – sadly – dealing with the recent bereavement of her husband who had supported ShelterBox for the last 20 years and for her it was a lovely reminder of her husband’s legacy.
For me, the ones that always stand out, are when you speak to someone who shares that they have little to give but prioritise donations towards ShelterBox regardless. That’s a heartmelting moment.
Thank You days are a reminder that your supporters are a community
The heart of charity fundraising is that you are offering a supporter the opportunity to be part of a solution to a problem. As a supporter care manager, I genuinely believe that the ShelterBox solution is not just what can be achieved when we’re out on deployment but that our supporters can also be part of a community of people who believe in what we’re doing. We take a day to put a spotlight on our supporters and to pass back some of the gratitude that ShelterBox receives from the field. Hopefully, we can highlight to them just how impactful their support is and that is such an important message to deliver.
Some Thank You day takeaways:
- Have a long run-up. Get a date in the diary and begin engaging with staff months in advance
- Provide resources and guidance. We have video guides, FAQs, and escalation protocols in place
- Consider Thank You Day Champions. They give support to colleagues who are less confident
- Have a central place to celebrate supporter stories – we use a Teams chat function
Want to learn more about building audience engagement? You may be interested in our ‘Who Cares?’ hub.
Banner Image: Tamara Parrott on Unsplash