The Power of Gratitude

The Power of Gratitude

One of the earliest and most important lessons we learn – one meant to stay with us for a lifetime – is the importance of a simple, sincere “thank you.” You hear it often in your mission, you say it daily in your prayers, and you know first-hand that the giving and receiving of thanks helps to sustain your spirit and carry you through your daily work.

Gratitude is no less valuable to those who support your mission. We’ve long understood the value of donor appreciation, even to the extent that we have created intricate systems to ensure your donors receive appropriate and particular thank-you letters within a few days of making a gift.

S H O W Y O U R V O L U N T E E R S T H E S A M E A P P R E C I AT I O N A S D O N O R S .

As Greg Baldwin, President of VolunteerMatch, noted in the Huffington Post, there may be “honest reluctance and limitations to assigning a [financial] value to an act of generosity.” Yet, we’d all likely agree that nonprofits do rely on the goodwill of volunteers.

In the article, Is Volunteering Worth It? The Economics of Generosity, Baldwin admits that “volunteering has our affection; it doesn’t always have our respect.” Baldwin suggests quantifying the value of volunteering is “about visibility. It is about bringing into focus a thousand acts of kindness to recalibrate our understanding of our economy and ourselves.”

R E G I S T E R T O R I N G ™ B R I N G S T H E VA L U E O F V O L U N T E E R S I N T O F O C U S .

You know Register to Ring as a powerful tool for managing your Red Kettle Campaign during the Christmas season – an essential part of your annual fundraising. Summit Marketing developed Register to Ring to help commands like yours enlist and schedule the volunteers who staff your kettle locations, and to track the donations collected.

But the features and benefits of Register to Ring run deeper than sheer logistics. The reporting and analytics capabilities of Register to Ring allow you to understand the true value of your volunteers. For instance:

2017 stats for all Register to Ring clients show that a typical volunteer ringer brings in twice the net income per hour of a paid ringer ($58 vs. $29). In other words, two paid ringers are required to produce the same net income as one volunteer. These numbers indicate that if volunteers rang during the 278,778 paid ringer hours in 2017, an additional $8,084,562 in donations could have been raised – as well as wages saved to meet other needs.

2017 stats for all Register to Ring clients show that a typical volunteer ringer brings in twice the net income per hour of a paid ringer.

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V O L U N T E E R A P P R E C I AT I O N I S K E Y T O T H E L O N G - T E R M S U C C E S S O F R E D K E T T L E CA M PA I G N S .

Volunteer appreciation is a vital part of retention and recruitment. After spending so much time recruiting volunteers, it is heartbreaking to lose them shortly after they start. Volunteers who feel noticed and appreciated are far more likely to keep at it and to spread the word that becoming a bell ringer is a meaningful, worthwhile experience. Appreciation helps them feel a connection to your mission. Without proper recognition of their efforts, volunteers are more likely to give up and stop ringing.

The year-over-year retention of volunteer ringers currently hovers around 30%. This means each year you are working harder to recruit new volunteers to fill your kettle slots. It is estimated that unmanned kettle shifts in 2017 may have cost The Salvation Army as much as $25,850,807 in unrealized donations.

These numbers prove the need to retain volunteer ringers in ways we can manage and protect – and a reminder that it is sometimes possible to get more than what you pay for. With these facts in evidence, it’s easy to justify developing a volunteer appreciation program. Donors respond to the recognition of their generosity; volunteers do as well.

REGISTER TO R ING ™ CAN HELP YOU EXPRESS YOUR GENUINE APPRECIATION TO YOUR VOLUNTEERS.

Volunteers give of themselves for many reasons – personal, spiritual, and even professional – but they return to give again when they know their help is truly essential, genuinely effective, and sincerely appreciated.

With just a few clicks in Register to Ring, volunteer managers can send an email to thank all ringers for any given day. If income is entered by shifts, the amount

each volunteer raised can be included in the email to highlight the impact they have made. If totals are entered on a daily basis, the email can share the total your volunteers helped raise. Additionally, each command can create a customized email to reflect their area’s specific campaign success.

Beyond Red Kettle season and the initial thank-you email, Register to Ring provides a valuable, up-to-date email list commands may use to continue to communicate with volunteers year-round. Reminding your volunteers

of your gratitude for their time, and the difference it makes right there in your community affords them many reasons to return – and presents them with additional opportunities to engage and support your mission.

It’s vital to treat volunteers as the indispensable friends they are, believing in you and helping you carry out your mission. With Register to Ring reporting, you can pull together a list of your best ringers (either in hours rang or by donations raised.) Get to know these people who are giving up their time to be with you. Ask them what ringing for you means to them and try to form a real, human connection. Asking for their feedback is a great way to show them you respect their opinion. Send out a survey that asks questions about their bell-ringing experience, what they would change, and what keeps them coming back.

It is estimated that unmanned kettle shifts in 2017 may have cost The Salvation Army as much as $25,850,807 in unrealized donations.

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Register to Ring™ allows you to enter volunteer-specific information in the notes field. This will help you remember special things about them, making it easier to craft a personalized note. In these days of form letters, robo calls and virtual friendships, a handwritten note or card, sent through the mail is rare, appreciated and memorable.

G R AT I T U D E I S F O R PA RT N E R S , T O O.

Register to Ring not only provides information on individual volunteers, but it also allows you to quantify and recognize the value of each of your kettle location partners. These partners provide The Salvation Army with valuable assets — free, high-traffic real estate!

It’s important to remember that these partnerships are mutually beneficial. Store owners and corporations provide The Salvation Army with good locations for kettles, and The Salvation Army helps them toward a positive civic profile – and even a boost in business.

According to The Nonprofit Hub, this boost can be very significant:

91% of global consumers are likely to switch brands to one associated with a good cause, given comparable price and quality.

61% of consumers are willing to try a new brand, even one they’ve never heard of, because of its association with a particular cause.

50% of global consumers said they would be willing to reward companies that give back to society by paying more for their goods and services (44% in the U.S. and 38% in Canada.)

R E G I S T E R T O R I N G CA N H E L P YO U B U I L D A S U C C E S S F U L R E L AT I O N S H I P W I T H K E T T L E L O CAT I O N PA RT N E R S

The opportunity to express your gratitude doesn’t end with kettle season. You can recognize your kettle location partners in many ways, at different times throughout the year. Demonstrating your care for them is easier with Register to Ring. Each contact contains an open record field where you can store preferences, dislikes, and mandatories, about store managers. Ask your partners how they would like to be recognized and what types of recognition hold value for them. Keep track of the deliverables and explain exactly where your partners can anticipate visibility. Storing and managing this information in Register to Ring allows you to better communicate and recognize them in the future, helping you nurture and build relationships.

Generally speaking, corporate sponsors like seeing their logo anywhere and everywhere. In addition to t-shirts, banners, signage, newsletters, print and web ads, radio spots, tweets, Facebook posts, press releases, billboards, invites, landing pages and email campaigns, registertoring.com allows you to prominently feature sponsor logos directly on the Register to Ring website, showcasing their support of The Salvation Army to all your volunteers throughout the holiday season.

Register to Ring reporting tools enable you to calculate the amount each store location raised so you can produce awards for store managers that feature their locations’ seasonal contributions. Likewise, Register to Ring reporting can show the total raised by store chains for corporate recognition, e.g., how much was raised at all Walmart locations in your command and/or division.

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The Power of Gratitude

M A X I M I Z E YO U R R E T U R N O N I N V E S T M E N T W I T H R E G I S T E R T O R I N G ™ .

We all understand that volunteer recruitment is an investment. Realize the value of gratitude and express it often to ensure your volunteers and sponsors have a fulfilling experience. Volunteers and kettle location sponsors should enjoy their experience and know their efforts are appreciated. Saying thanks to volunteers and formally recognizing sponsors does not have to be an arduous task. The tools within Register to Ring can help you keep these supporters motivated, happy and involved, year after year.

Register to Ring is just one of many platforms created by Summit Marketing to help recruit,

manage and retain volunteers.

As the leading experts in nonprofit fundraising, Summit Marketing has the tools and expertise to take your division or Corps to the next level.

We’d love to make your mission ours. Contact us today!

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Phone: 913.562.3400 Toll-Free: 800.843.7347

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Updated January 2019 | © 2019 Summit Marketing

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Ringing@SummitMarketing.com800.843.7347

For more information contact

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