People, this is NOT a thank you.
This is a poorly done appeal badly disguised as a gift acknowledgment. There’s no gratitude here. And there’s no reason to give, either.
Two sentences. That’s what’s spared for the donor. Fifty percent of the front page is about asking for another gift. One hundred percent of the back of the sheet is information about the charity. (Is this so the mailing can be considered educational?)
Two sentences.
But it’s a “Special Contribution Reply Form”, right? I didn’t feel so special. We’ve been giving to this organization for years because decades ago, someone my husband worked with had a family member with the condition.
Imagine what they could have done with one great story and a few kind words.
You can do so much better – and so can your donors
Is this a case of saving money – while losing gifts? I don’t know.
Your donors are probably kinder than I am. But they will notice.
So, if you’d like to keep donors around, they deserve better. This isn’t worth the cost of postage and paper.
Don’t do this. Your donor is not an ATM. Your donor deserves some real gratitude.
Need some help? Start with the best here.
Mary, how many organizations do you contribute to that you keep coming up with real examples of donor cultivation gone wrong? I’m terrified that you’ll donate to my organization and we’ll end up on your blog! 🙂
A good number, I guess. Honestly, it makes my husband happy to make donations. But I know you’d NEVER send me a thank you like that.
Is this for real, Mary? And if so, how is the charity still in business?
Yours aye
Charlie Marshall
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I’m afraid it’s very much real. A big disease charity… that we’ve been giving to for a very long time because of a personal connection a very long time ago. They get gifts because my husband’s a nice guy. Behavior like this would have cut them off if it was just me.
It’s amazing what a poor job some organizations do when they send out thank you letters. I recently received a thank you letter that’s a case study of what not to do. The organization sent it at least months after I made the donation, the salutation reads “Dear Friends:, it starts with “On behalf of X organization,” and the language is vague and impersonal.
We can do better.
Ugh. Yes, we definitely can! You’d think that even a very small organization might make up for being late with extremely personal letters… But most of the worst I see are from gigantic organizations. Maybe just me, but I don’t see any reason to give them a pass. Thanks for sharing that, Ann.
Terrible. It’s as sterile & impersonal as can be. Like the vampires who take 99% of every dollar they raise and have names that sound or look like better-name charities, they give everyone a bad name. Shame on them.
I do my research besides what I see every day in my job. There’s a lot of that going on. Not good at all.
Which makes me think that it maybe works in the short-term. Or is so cheap, they think it’s worthwhile? I cannot buy that this works in the long-term. At any rate, it’s very disappointing. Thanks Paul. I hope we start to see better!