Fundraiser Ken Burnett says that any fundraiser who doesn’t say “Thank you” to donors is — he doesn’t mince words — a fool.
In a recent blog post, Ken is responding to a donor who suggests otherwise.
Says Ken:
“…as a profession we are truly crap at saying thank you and welcome properly and at reassuring donors that their gifts have been safely received and wisely applied. Is this something to be proud of? We wonder why we can’t keep our supporters, why, as Adrian Sargeant says, ‘Building donor loyalty is the biggest challenge facing our sector today.’ There’s little enough pleasure in being a donor. Perhaps we get the loyal donors we deserve.”
Amen, I say.
If you want to know how Ken really feels and why, his entire article is worth a read.
Tom
This article was posted in: charities, communications, Don't Miss these Posts, donor retention, fundraising, loyalty, nonprofit management, nonprofits.
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Dear Tom,
Ken Burnett is absolutely right.
In my almost twenty years’ experience in not for profit start ups, I can add that it all depends on numbers.
When you have to deal with a “manageable” number of donors you can build up and maintain a very good communication system, with thank you letters, personalised text and so on. But when the organisation reaches hundred of thousands of donors it is very difficult to keep up with it. Letters become very standardised, databases are messing around with names and addresses, content and style become “commercial” and Donors perceive this.
Only a few Big organisations are able to cope with this challenge but they are backed up by a very good system.
Tiziana Fattori
Italy