Poor thanking: [Mr. Yuk Fundraising, part 1]

A series about four common fundraising problems that can poison your work and flatten revenue. I wish I could put a “Mr. Yuk” sticker on those practices.

Poor thanking chases away donors. It tells people who have stepped up and given that they and their giving don’t matter.

Some common forms of inadequate thanking:

• Too slow. If weeks go by before you acknowledge a donation, donors may have forgotten they gave. They may have given to other orgs in the mean time. The powerful emotional moment, where you could have cemented the warm feeling they got when they gave and feel moved to give again … it has probably passed.
• No emotional content. If your acknowledgement merely gives the facts — size and date of donation — you’ve done only part of the job. The less important part. Giving is an act of the heart. Thanking needs to thank the heart by using emotional language and connecting with the donor not just for what she did, but for who she is.
• Not about their gift. It’s easy to let your thanking lapse into organizational bragging. Don’t. Thank the donor for her gift. That’s the topic.
• Not relevant. If you asked the donor to help supply safe water for people in impoverished communities, you need to thank them for helping supply safe water for people in impoverished communities. If you thank them for fighting world poverty (which indeed they did), you aren’t completing the emotional transaction.
• No thanking at all. It pains me to say it, but it’s all too common: If we are to go by the various “secret shopper” donations you can read about in the fundraising blogs now and then, somewhere between 20% and 40% of charities never acknowledge donations at all. Those organizations don’t deserve subsequent donations. They make us all look bad. Shame on them! (Sorry, I’m not lecturing you. I doubt people at those orgs are reading this or any blog!)