The other day, the subject of thanking donors came up again on our website. This time, it was a link to a blog about how to say thank you but it’s the latest in a string of pieces from opinion-formers, on our website and elsewhere, talking about the importance of thanking donors.
The thing is, I don’t want charities to thank me for my regular, direct-debit gift. I think it’s a total waste of my donation (as well, often, as a cynical attempt to get another tenner out of me).
Nor do I want to be sent a report on what my money’s bought. I don’t want a personalised letter thanking me for my important contribution. I don’t want to read stories about individual beneficiaries who had terrible lives and now have better ones.
I don’t want to be friends.
I already know what you do. That’s why I give you cash in the first place. Now I’d like you to get on with doing it. I read your annual report each year and I’m quite satisfied, thanks very much, that you’re doing what I gave you the cash for. If I ever have any qualms about it, I’ll write to you, thanks.
As a result, I’ve taken every step I can to keep anonymous, and to ensure that you don’t waste my money or your time writing to me.
So that’s me. But, of course, as a charity, you don’t know what sort of donor I am. And when I mentioned this, the guy sitting opposite me in the office started complaining about how little the charity he donates to on a monthly basis tells him about what it is doing.
Personally, I think he should just read the annual report, which contains a 100-plus pages of close-packed information, including every detail he could possibly be interested in. But he wants more updates from his charity and he’ll probably go elsewhere, eventually, unless he receives them.
And actually, when I’ve taken the time to do something, to fundraise for a charity as opposed to donating my own cash, my expectations are completely different. I guess I feel that fundraising activities (in my case, mostly distance running) are bloody hard work, whereas regular giving is just something that I ought to do. So when I do a run for charity, I do really value the thanks I receive.
So there’s the problem for charities. Some donors want to hear from you all the time but some never want you to contact them again. Some change their mind depending on what they do. So how do you figure out which donor is which?
Suggestions are welcome. But don’t expect a thank-you note.