Communicate Results, not Your Activities

True story: a successful, middle-aged business person working in a tech-related field told me about her experience with a nonprofit. This lady happens to be a philanthropist in the making. She’s serious about the support she gives, but also loves the idea of giving, plain and simple. Let’s call her Donna.

She had been following a nonprofit in her city that feeds and shelters homeless and vulnerable women. The city’s downtown area is near and dear to Donna’s heart. She loves the nightlife in the area and cares deeply for those who are experiencing poverty. The cause, therefore, aligns with one of her passions.

A friend of Donna’s recently began work at the mission. Great connection, right? Donna gave this mission an online gift of $1,000 during the Christmas season. The email acknowledgement of the gift came almost immediately. There was a brief thank you and confirmation of the credit card transaction. Then she heard nothing from them…for days and days.

After twenty-one days, an email arrived from the same mission asking for another gift. To say Donna felt disillusioned would be an understatement.

She hadn’t really paid attention to the fact that she hadn’t received a receipt in the mail and that there had been no communication of any kind since the first email acknowledgement that her $1,000 gift had been received. It was only when she got the next email ask that she realized she hadn’t heard from them. She called it a “too quick ask” and explained that it made her feel unappreciated and like she was just a means to an end-money.

She said, “They haven’t even sked me why I gave the first gift. All they know about me is my credit card number. How can they possibly know if I can afford a second gift? “  As a new donor, Donna wasn’t even in their database.

Think about the  implications:

• What could a gift of that size be telling the nonprofit about the donor’s capacity to give?

• Was there a bigger opportunity waiting to see how the nonprofit responded to the first gift?

How would you feel if you had given $1,000 of your hard-earned money to this organization and the only communication you received from them was an automatic acknowledgement and then, three weeks later, a request to give more?

My question to you: just what is a donor entitled to after making an initial gift to your organization?

If you hope to grow  relationships with your new donors it had better be more than what Donna experienced.