A dear friend was lamenting to me about a solicitation she received a few days ago. The solicitation was political, but it could just as well have been any non-profit looking for money. It digitally screamed to the reader, “Only a few hours left to make your donation so that your name can be next to the others on our next solicitation!”.
Really? Ew.
Does this organization really believe that people are motivated to give just so that their name can be “in lights” (or, in this case, in pixels in an ad)? Maybe this is true for a few narcissistic and/or publicity-hungry folks, but for most of us trying to just do good, it’s not about that at all. In fact, it’s so not-about-that, that we can be totally turned off by the suggestion that we’re all about the publicity. And not give to that organization ever again.
Online non-profit marketers, beware — you might lose donors, instead of gain them, by using this form of promotion.
The fact of the matter is that donors give for different reasons, and assuming that “Donors” are a homogeneous group that basically all thinks and feels the same way about giving — is just not true. Don’t get me wrong — as a donor, it can be kind of nice to be thanked publicly, when appropriate. And, if I know that more donors will follow if they see my (or another donor’s) name in a solicitation, I’m generally happy to help (even if it makes me a bit uncomfortable.)
We all know, too, that some donors really do give only to receive public recognition, or even for nefarious reasons. I was glued to the recent two-episode podcast on “The Daily” about Lisa Bloom and Harvey Weinstein, hearing about how Bloom’s “plan of attack” on Weinstein’s accuser was, in part, to create a charity, to “get ahead of” the bad publicity about him.
I realize that the tendency might be to assume that this is how and why most donors give, but that’s just not the case. True, there are a few “bad actors” out there, and the stories of those folks is typically a much more exciting news story than the 69% of the population who gives — many, if not most, without wanting anything in return except for a gracious and grateful “thank you!”. (Which many don’t really get — but I’ll take that up in another newsletter.)
I once gave a large donation to an organization where, for many reasons, we agreed to be recognized with our name on a building. Note that we didn’t give the money in order to have our name on the building, but even if we did, I don’t believe that’s wrong.
The problem was after the initial thank you and our name being added to the renovation of the building (that our donation had subsidized). For at least a year following the donation, we were thanked again and again — and again — at events (Donor — stand up and wave to the audience!”) and in publications and even at committee meetings. For me, it got old really quickly, and by a few months into the “year of thanking the donor”, I just wanted to become invisible. Worse, I was asked to come to Donor recognition events, including lunches and breakfasts, and I was pushed hard to show up. Did I really have to take time out of my day to go to an event for a few hours, eat some food, and be thanked yet again? I had a family and a business and loads of other commitments, and suggesting that I have an obligation to take some hours out of my day (hours that I’ll never get back, of course) to be thanked yet again just didn’t — and still doesn’t — make sense to me.
Having said that, it’s clear that donors come in all types, colors, personalities, etc. It’s up to the fundraiser(s) and the organization to find out (a) why they give, and why they’re giving to your particular cause, and (b) how they feel about being thanked. If you ask them in a respectful, authentic manner, they’ll tell you. Just like that.
Donors are too hard to find to have them leave because you thanked them in a way that’s wrong for them. Maybe it’s “Me Me Me” with someone trying to cover up their bad behavior, but for most donors, that motivation couldn’t be further from the truth.
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- Lisa