Put yourself in this scenario.
You love a charity. You love them so much that you raise money for them from your friends, colleagues, clients. No, I’m not talking about sending emails and getting people to give on your fancy personal fundraising page.
I’m talking old school. Selling flowers, selling tickets…
You hustle for days, weeks, maybe even over a month. And, of course, you buy a few for yourself. At the end of the campaign, you helped the charity raise hundreds, maybe thousands of dollars.
Hopefully your charity shows you love, affection and care. They write you, they call you, they know your first name, they know your dog’s name.
Then it happens.
Down the road, when you least expect it, you get a letter. You open it, of course. This is the charity you love. But why are they telling you what you already know? That this disease is really cruel… or that their organization is the only charity that blah, blah, blah…
Someone decided to “convert volunteers to donors” and there is a cheap and convenient way to do this – tack it on to an existing mailing. The absolute worst case scenario is that you have been added to the latest acquisition mailing. Ugh.
How do you feel? At best, you feel disengaged.
At worst, you feel insulted.
You’re probably not going to call that charity and tell them how you feel. You’re just going to sigh, slump your shoulders and feel a bit crappy.
We make stupid decisions every day like this that can affect those who care about us the most.
Death by a thousand cuts…
Earlier this year, a client of ours included volunteers of this kind in the “in-house” segment instead of the “mailing house” segment. It was hand signed, live stamped and looked and felt like real mail. Yes, it took longer. Yes, the CEO had to sign more letters. Yes, there were more envelopes to stuff at the lunch table.
But how do you think those donors felt?
Amazing. Cherished. Loved. Important.
And what do you think happened?
They raised more money. Way more money. Double the money.
And what’s next?
Legacies. These people just won’t cross the major gift radar. They buy a few flowers for themselves. They give $50 or $100 during the holidays. But they are more precious to you then you can imagine.
I like the idea of asking donors how they prefer to be addressed. I asked in my last survey, and that helped.
Though I do admit, where that’s not (yet) possible, I default to a formal address – because my donor base now is generally older. But if there’s a relationship already, then I use first names. Certainly, I wouldn’t have any former employees addressed so formally, unless they asked. I collect salutations personalized from our CEO, from board members, etc. Person A may refer to the donor one way, person B another. (And nicknames will get you if you’re not careful!)
Excellent point, Mary! Ask donors how they want to be addressed. And most systems can have different types of salutations, so there is one for “Annual Report”, one for “Mail from President” and one for “General Mail” or something. Thanks for keeping the conversation going!
Great post, Jen! You are awesome for sharing this wisdom with the world – it’s clear that you’re passionate about it.
For the analytical minds out there, they should really think about their argument that this takes more time and resources. If they did the math, how much time and cost goes into a dud mailing and what is the return vs. putting in the time to do it right and getting 2x the result? Although, the reason to personalize the mailings isn’t to raise more $$$ – it’s because it’s the right thing to do for our friends. Treat your friends right and they will support you. Treat them like a stranger, they will act like one.
Go Agents!
Rickesh
Thanks Rickesh. Well said about friends and strangers!
Thanks for the comment Mary! The over-sanitization of our fundraising programs is a growing concern to me. I have another client that insists on using Ms. Love instead of Jen for all salutations. Their thinking is that is shows respect. I think we should test it….
Have a great day!
Jen
That’s a wonderful post, Jen. And absolutely right on.
There’s just no getting around it – we’ve got to actually deal with people as individuals! And really, it takes so little to let someone know that you recognize them as real people.
For instance: a place I worked at for 12 years still sends me solicitations addressed to Ms. Cahalane. I left blood, sweat and tears at that place, and now we’re no longer on a first-name basis? Yeesh.