Tomorrow is Thanksgiving (if you’re in the United States). For me, this means hanging out with family (and Otis), eating lots of chocolate pecan pie, and taking a long nap.
But it also means being thankful.
The same is true for your nonprofit. Thanksgiving is an opportunity to express gratitude for your staff, donors, and volunteers.
Here are three last-minute tips:
1. Thank Your Core Volunteers
If you haven’t done so yet, schedule a thank-you email for volunteers, set to send on Thanksgiving Day.
The purpose of this email is to express your sincere gratitude for all the time that they’ve spent supporting your organization throughout the year.
Don’t ask them to sign up for more volunteer opportunities, and don’t ask them to make a donation. Just say “thanks.” Yes, feel free to link to a social media post thanking volunteers (see tip #2 below), but keep your focus on expressing gratitude.
Keep your email message short and sweet. Remember, volunteers will be spending time with their friends and family, too.
2. Showing Gratitude to Volunteers with Posts with Canva
If you haven’t used Canva, now is a perfect opportunity to check it out.
Canva allows you to quickly create visual content that is optimized for Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. There are many templates to choose from and a massive database of royalty-free photos you can use for your posts (premium images and elements cost $1 each).
Create a visual post for each of your social media sites and schedule them for Thanksgiving Day.
3. Showing Gratitude to Volunteers with Video
Many smart phones now allow you take high-quality video. Take 30 seconds out of your day to create a sincere “thank you” message for volunteers. Don’t go for perfection. Just be yourself, expressing sincere appreciation for your volunteers.
Once you take this video, crop off any unnecessary footage at the beginning and end. If it’s 30 seconds (perfect length), you can post it to YouTube, Facebook, and Pinterest directly from your smart phone.
Lastly, have fun and enjoy yourself. It’s Thanksgiving.
