Donor Communications

I see you

That’s what we all really want, isn’t it? Someone who sees us.

We want to be known for ourselves, as people. To be recognized.

That’s what our donors are looking for as well. So why is so much communication impersonal and generic?

The lazy answer is because it’s easier that way. Large organizations might think: there’s no way we can know every donor anyway, right? So let’s just get something generic out and hope it works for enough people to make a dent. Small ones think: we don’t have the staff!

I don’t know about you, but that bugs me.

Everyone you’ll solicit isn’t a personal friend. So how do you let donors know you see and value them as individuals?

It takes a little bit of effort, but nothing superhuman. Just human.

Here are some things I think help.

Start by writing to a person, from a person. Address your letters or emails with a name. (Remember, they’re not your “friend”, right?)

Write about your donor. Talk about what she’s done and what he can do when he supports your organization. Imagine you’re at a party. Do you want to be stuck next to the person talking about themselves all night? Yeah, don’t let your organization be that person. No one is that into you.

Talk the way your donors do; don’t use jargon or generic phrases like “make a difference”. Think about how your donor would describe what you do. Want to show off your flowery prose? Save it for your novel. Want to show off your impressive vocabulary? Save it for your grandma. Write simply, clearly, and emotionally.

You might not know everything, but you absolutely know some things. Find a way to use those things. What programs have they supported in the past? Where do they live? How long have they been giving? Back to our party: you’d use that information to start a conversation, right?

Ask them to tell you more about themselves. I love surveys – and so do donors. People like the chance to tell you what they think. And you’ll be gathering great information.

Simple things matter. Like “how do you like to be addressed?” For example, a former employer still sends me letters with a formal salutation. I spent nearly twelve years there. I’m sure they think they’re being polite. But it always makes me feel like a stranger. That hurts a little bit. If they’d ever asked, they’d know that.

Then be sure you keep the conversation going once you ask. Back to our party: you know that person who asks you a question and then wanders off while you’re answering? Yeah, don’t be that person, either.

And please, please, don’t let the conversation end after the gift! The gift is a beginning, not an end. Thank your donor graciously and personally. Have a real person sign the letter. Add a handwritten note. Thank them every once in a while for no particular reason. Believe me, people will respond!

We’re in the business of building relationships.

Real people have relationships. Treat your donors like real people. You’ll be happily surprised, I promise!

Share your ideas! What do you do to treat your donors like individuals?

Photo: By Laitr Keiows (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons

Trademarked

I received a solicitation in the mail the other day. I bet you’ve also gotten this one – or one like it. It comes with many colorful address labels. And a nickel!

What really made me laugh this time, though, was the salutation. They obviously knew my name, because it was all over the address labels. But probably to save money, they opted not to personalize.

So I became a “Friend of …. Association”.

But either some perverse dictate about brand standards – or maybe the legal department – had gotten involved. Because I wasn’t just a “Friend”. I was a registered trademarked friend!

Nothing says warm and fuzzy like a registered trademark.

No thanks

Almost every day I receive an acknowledgment letter that misses the mark. We’ll call it a no thanks.

But the one I received recently really offers a lesson in what not to do.

Thank you fail

It’s plainly generic, to begin with. Though my name and address appear on the letter, the salutation reads “Dear Friend”. I can’t think of any good reason for this. And the letter was dated three weeks after we sent our gift. That’s too long.

But the worst part was that this was a memorial gift, a tribute to a close friend’s mother who had just passed away. My friend’s family chose this charity to receive memorial gifts. The funeral home provided a form with space to include the name and address of the family member we would like to be notified of our gift. As the person who often handles the mail, I knew to fill the form out completely.

The second sentence of the letter reads:

“Because we did not have the information that would allow us to send notification of your kind gesture, we have enclosed a special tribute card so that you may do so.”

Say what?

They did have the information. If they lost it, then they ought to have called or written to me to ask for the information. I don’t want to be the one telling my friend about the gift. That feels too much like a bid for thanks. It’s uncomfortable.

The “special tribute card” is simply a generic, branded notecard with information about the organization. The envelope didn’t even have a stamp on it! NO THANKS.

I hope this isn’t their usual way of handling tribute gifts. Maybe it saves them the trouble of writing two letters – one to the donor, and one to the loved ones of the person being memorialized.

Whatever their reason, it really upset me. I made a gift to the organization but was being asked to do half their work for them.

Worse was knowing that my friend’s family entrusted this organization as the recipient of memorial gifts. That trust deserves better treatment.

This is a huge, national organization. There’s no excuse for bad donor care like this.

For me, an organization that probably does very good work missed a chance to cement a relationship. They made my gift feel insignificant. A “Dear Friend” “gesture”.

Not sure I’ll feel good about making another gift to them any time soon.

Note:

Failing to find any development office contact on their website, I called the 800 number on the bottom of the letter. After waiting on hold for ten minutes, I spoke with a very nice call center person and passed along my comments. I also learned that according to their records, notification of the gift was sent to the family. (That’s good, but why tell me it wasn’t?)

I doubt I’ll hear anything more on this, but I’ll update this if I do.

Donor Communications

That’s what we all really want, isn’t it? Someone who sees us.

Here are some things I think help.

We’re in the business of building relationships.

Say what?

Work with me!