Sometimes it’s the little things that make your day.
Last week, on Giving Tuesday Now, I received a number of solicitations (obvs), but one in particular caught my eye. In the payment section there was a special box for “I’d like to pay by check”. Woo hoo! Am I excited because I can now pay my donation via check? Yes, but no, not really.
As Paul Harvey would say, "Here’s the rest of the story”.
There’s over $121 billion dollars sitting in donor advised funds. With a “B”. Donor advised funds pay grants by check. Most email and snail mail solicitations ask for credit cards — only. See the disconnect?
I called my friend who heads up the organization that I got the solicitation from, Noga Brenner Samia of Hillel Israel. Noga was pleased that I had noticed the box for paying by check, and she told me that she insisted that it be on the form. Did she want the box there for people like me who might want to “put a check in the mail”? No — she wanted the box there for people like me who have Donor Advised Funds. (And yes, some people still write checks, but that’s another story…)
Here’s the point (if you haven’t gotten it already). Donor Advised Funds keep growing and growing, and solicitations don’t reflect that this pile of money is sitting there. If you make your gifts via your Donor Advised Fund, and you read one of those solicitations, there’s always a moment where you say, “hmmm…. I’d like to donate to this cause, but do I really want to call or email them to let them know that I’m going to make my donation via my DAF?” Why should I have to do that?
Why isn’t there a place where I can write (typically online, on a form) that I’m happy to donate, and it will be via my DAF, and the address pops up saying where the check should be sent? Why, when my kids wanted to be part of a “donate today and get a stuffed animal” promotion with a wildlife protection charity, did I have to make multiple calls, be sent to voicemail, and wait for a conversation, just to make the required contribution? (Just to add to the fun, I still didn’t get the stuffed animal(s) after the check was sent in by the DAF, so I had to call multiple times after that.)
You get the picture.
Here’s a recommendation. Teach everyone on your staff what a DAF is. Then have them try to think like a donor who gives via their Donor Advised Fund. Walk through your pitch, your collateral, and your conversations, and notice where the pitch (written or otherwise) doesn’t speak to DAF clients. Then fix it.
Don’t make — or continue making — a $121B mistake.
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- Lisa
Agreed. The biggest mistake is to not ask for checks. Only 10% of the $427 Billion/Year is given by credit card.