Take Time for Thank You
Saying thank you is a significant part of planning an event. Race planners find themselves saying it quite often throughout the course of preparing for and implementing an event. If you don’t, it might be a good time to start.
As I’ve mentioned before, with the races I’ve planned we often turned to large and small businesses for the donation of prizes or help with funding the t-shirts made available for our participants. When you deal with companies whose donation of a gift card or coupon is just one of many they give out in a year’s time we can take their contribution for granted.
We know that companies can choose who they wish to sponsor or donate to, but while they may be doing it out of the kindness of their hearts there is likely some marketing component involved. Sometimes this lessens our perception of how grateful we should be for such a contribution.
While a thank you is always appropriate when receiving the support for your event, a follow up thank you is important too. After the event is said and done and you get back to other work, or planning next year’s event, take the time to send thank you cards to each and every one of your supporters which helped make the event possible.
If you are dealing with a lot of different companies, as we usually were, split up the task of completing thank yous. You can generate an electronic version, but be sure an actual person signs it. Personally, I prefer to send out a hand written note.
Consider including the following information:
-
Begin the letter by addressing the business directly. Better yet, write it to the person who was responsible for getting the donation.
-
Thank them for the specific item they donated.
-
Let them know how it influenced the event. Consider throwing in some figures such as number of participants or the funds raised for the charity.
-
Give them the details of next year’s event if they are set and indicate that you hope they can be a part of it again.
Yes, your hard work on a thank you note may simply get dumped in the trash, but chances are it will reach a real person who appreciates knowing they were able to help.
It is easy to quickly move on after an event is completed. Keeping personal contact with your sponsors and donators reflects that you are a down to earth, appreciative organization. Developing a relationship with partners through a simple note of thanks may increase the chances that they will want to help you out next year.
No comments yet.