A lifetime city dweller, I appreciate the pioneer and farm heritage on both sides of my family.  So I enjoyed spending Memorial Day weekend in rural Kansas attending the alumni events of my seventy-something parents (I was their "show and tell").  We also visited relatives and decorated graves.  A cousin from New York state was in town and provided me with a terrific story about donor satisfaction.

Our parents grew up in the country outside a very small north-central Kansas town (population < 200).  One uncle owned the general store and another was president of the bank.  After her parents died recently she found out how greatly their home in Arlington, Virginia had appreciated in value and decided to use some of the estate proceeds to honor them and the places they grew up. 

Last year she purchased an organ for her mother's church in Beatty, KS and computers for the Agra, KS school her father attended.  During her visit this year people sought her out to thank her for the gifts and tell stories about the money had been put to good use.

She had also given the local Boy Scout troop some unrestricted funds.  These were used by an Eagle Scout to create a park and playground on Main Street. The Boy Scouts were part of the Memorial Day honor guard at the service we attended in the cemetery that was originally part of our great-grandfather's farm (and where her parents are buried). After hearing their appreciation, she made another gift to help the troop to send boys on a trip to Canada this year.

As local veterans finished playing taps and we walked across the cemetery back to the cars she talked to me about what these gifts meant to her. "I could have honored them with contributions to a heart or alzheimers association and gotten a nice letter. But then I'd just have gotten more requests for money. With these gifts, I really feel like I've done something meaningful for them." 

It's this type of satisfaction that the research of Paul Schervish at Boston College tells us is a HUGE motivator for donors.  The challenge for nonprofits is how to provide this type of feedback for more donors--even those that can't and won't (speaking metaphorically) fly from New York to rural Kansas for a visit.

How can you duplicate a handshake full of thanks and a sincere story told in person?  There are ways...your mission is to find them.