Most people already knows this, but flattery works.
And it's been proven once again in a study reported at the Neuromarketing blog: Flattery: A Free Way to Increase Recall. This time the finding is that praising people can improve their memory:
...when subjects were given a task to learn involving motor skills, praise for their performance afterwards resulted in their remembering the task better than control groups who received no praise.
Boosted memory is good. It means they'll more likely remember your offer. Or remember who you are.
Praising donors isn't just empty flattery. They are, in fact, extremely excellent people who are doing more than their share to make the world a better place. (They're not only giving to you and to other causes, they probably also volunteer, give blood, and randomly do kind and helpful things for others. All at a much higher rate than other people.)
Its more evidence that the real job of fundraising is not to brag about ourselves in hopes that we'll persuade donors to hitch their wagons to our stars. It's to remind donors who they are and show them how our values align with theirs -- and help them see that we are an effective vehicle for their passion and generosity.