In the memorial thank-you letter samples included with this clinic, I refer readers to the previous thank-you letter clinics, because they contain basic formatting tips you should be applying to all your thank yous. The list below contains the top ten. For more, refer to SOFII’s first donation thank-you letter clinic here.

1. Personalise. Thank-you letters should not start with ‘Dear Friend.’
2. Avoid design tricks. A thank you is from one person to another. No need for crazy bold fonts and underlining and italics.
3. Consider font and format: serif for print, sanserif for electronic thank yous. (Although recent research says the latter isn’t necessarily the best.)
4. Structure for readability: indent your paragraphs if possible. Keep all paragraphs at seven lines or less. Vary length of paragraphs, i.e. two lines, four lines, seven lines, one line. Use healthy page margins, justified left/ragged right.
5. Keep it brief. One page, one side, is plenty.
6. Use more ‘you’ than ‘we’. Focus your thank you on benefits and show the donor how he or she is helping.
7. Use an engaging start. Just like a good fundraising appeal, you want to draw the reader into your thank you. Nothing says you have to start with ‘thank you’ or ‘on behalf of’.
8. Add a contacts and update paragraph. How will the donor next hear from you – via a quarterly newsletter, annual report, what and when? And include a phone number and email they can use to contact you.
9. Use a top-level signatory, president, CEO, etc.
10. Add a PS. I’ve said it before: postscripts get read, even in emails. So use them to direct readers to your website, to extend an invitation to tour your facility, to update donors on a story in the appeal that prompted the gift. Get creative and always add a final thank you.