Don’t settle for a boring, emotion-free thank you. I picked up my mail the other day and opened an envelope from a well-respected advocacy organization. It was an acknowledgment of my recent gift. And it was so disappointing! Mentally, I went through a list of failures in one letter: My husband’s name was spelled incorrectly. […]
Donor Communications
Your killer advantage: great customer service
A customer service story Do your donors feel like this? The other night, my husband called my cell phone. “Are you home?” he asked, puzzled. “Yes”, I answered, just as confused. Apparently, he’d been trying our home line and getting no answer. I checked, and yes, our line was dead. I tried to call AT&T, […]
The royal we
Do you see a lot of the “royal we” in your mailbox? Know what I mean? “XYZ has been successfully helping [poor, hungry, sick] people for more than 30 years. During that time, we have blah, blah, blah. We have been recognized by Charity Navigator for our excellent finances. We have been celebrated by our […]
The power of one
You’ve probably been hearing the story of young Sarah Murnaghan, the 10-year-old girl with end-stage cystic fibrosis. She’s in desperate need of a lung transplant. Without one, she isn’t likely to survive the next couple of weeks. But transplant rules don’t allow her to move to the front of the line – before adults and […]
Scheherazade and bathtubs
When my oldest was just a little girl, she insisted that I tell her stories while in the tub. After a full day at work and several hours running after a little one, it was a rare night that I could summon the energy to make something up. So I relied on fairy tales – […]