Donor Thank-You Tracker: Every Christmas Gift Thanked on Time

GivingTuesday is two weeks out, and once the December surge starts, thank-yous are usually the first thing to slip.

The time to decide how you thank donors is now, while it is still quiet. Four decisions cover most of it. Set a standard in days from gift to thank-you, such as two. Pick an amount at which a gift gets a personal call from the director or a board member. Give every gift a named owner. And plan the next touch, such as an impact update or an invitation, at a set gap after the thank-you. Then check overdue items daily through December rather than catching up in January.

Our Donor Thank-You Tracker for Excel and Google Sheets runs on your own standard. Every gift gets a due date and a label: Sent on time, Sent late, Due today, Pending or Overdue, and gifts at or above your personal-touch amount are tagged. The follow-up queue lists the next 25 thank-yous, oldest due first, and the next 20 touchpoints. The dashboard shows on-time rate, average days to thank, and coverage by owner. In the fictional example, on 29 December, 8 thank-yous are overdue and 4 sit with the same volunteer caller.

It doesn't send anything, covers this season only, and isn't a donor database.