Do You Say 'Thank You'?

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I don’t often keep copies of comments I leave on blogs, but
this time something prompted me to save it to my hard drive.

Glad I did, because for some reason, the comment has NOT been
moderated on Kivi’s Non Profit Communication Blog – so I’ll
just share my thoughts here about saying ‘Thank you’ when
someone donates to your non-profit.

Since this blog is read by many donors of the Dr.Mani Children
Heart Foundation, I’d greatly appreciate YOUR thoughts about
this – please leave a comment.

Before reading further, take a look at this experiment on the
responsiveness of non-profit organizations -

Or, Can a Girl Get a Thank-You Note, Please?

I have so many thoughts about this, from both sides of the fence.

First, as a non-profit manager:

* Email acknowledgement is mandatory for ALL donations, even if
only $2. There is no excuse for not sending out one. My 2 cents!

* Email is COMPLETELY unreliable these days, with too many going
astray or getting filtered out – so that may help you give the
‘benefit of doubt’ to the non-profits.

* Postal addresses are often incorrect. I send out thank you
cards for most donations (sometimes the process fails!) – and
from the last mailing of 250 cards, I’ve got 67 back already
as undeliverable. And I used the postal address in their PayPal
accounts from which donations were made!

* Processing thank you notes is time intensive… unless you
have a system. The complexity will increase when donations
come from multiple channels, or if there’s a sudden influx
at particular seasons. Working on creating a system, testing
it, and tweaking it to fit new needs is often put off for
later – yet it is so critically important. This is a ‘wake up call’
for me to review our own process.

* I use a blog, and a story-telling website too, so donors
can feel the connection with kids they are helping.

But even here, there is sometimes a time-lag, when things get
too busy to handle!

Next, as a donor:

* I often expect some recognition for a donation – and almost
never get it. I’ve donated $10 for some causes, and $1,000
for others. Quantum does not impact acknowlegement. Some do,
some don’t.

* My experience in the business world should keep me from
expecting this, because both are populated by humans with
similar attitudes. I seldom receive a thank you message
when I give my business mailing lists a gift, so why should
it be different when the gift is to charity?!

* I give to do good. Not to FEEL good when I get a thank you
note. So, by picking non-profits that I believe will make a
difference, my ‘feeling good’ happens AT THE TIME I send the
donation. Anything that happens later is just icing on the
cake

Too long for a comment?

I agree.

That’s probably why it has to be here as a standalone blog post!

Your thoughts? Please comment.

Thank you