Lessons Learned From a Donor Email

As church workers, it is good for us to experience other non-profits as donors and volunteers for a couple of reasons. One, it is a way we grow as Christ followers. Second, it helps us to connect to how the people in our pews feel as donors and volunteers in our own ministries. Recently, I received an e-mail from an organization I support on a monthly basis. The e-mail bothered and annoyed me.

Here’s what it said:

Dear Tom,

I’m reaching out on behalf of the (organization which I’ll leave out) regarding your recurring monthly donation. We recently transitioned to a new, more secure and user-friendly giving platform to process all credit card and ACH gifts.

Because our previous vendor account has been closed, your prior recurring gift is no longer active. We kindly ask you to re-establish your monthly gift. Click here to set up your gift.

As I re-read it, I am annoyed all over again. When I first read it, I wasn’t sure why it irked me so much. I’ve seen and received worse donor communication, but I wanted to just delete the e-mail and thought, “forget them, I’m not donating anymore.” Instead, I just let it sit in my inbox to ponder. I didn’t want my annoyance to drive my behavior. I believe in the cause but the e-mail did hurt my relationship with the organization. As I have stepped back, I have tried to think of what they could have done differently that would have made me feel so much better about their communication.

Here are four things that could have been done that I think are instructive for donor relationships:

One, they could have given me a prior warning about the change.
It would have been a little insider information that would have helped me warm up to the idea. They could have sent an e-mail prior to the one that I received. They could have written, “We want you to know that we will be making a change to how we process gifts. Expect an e-mail in the next week or so that asks you to re-establish your monthly giving.” I would have felt more included in the process instead of just having this task thrust upon me.

Two, apologize for the inconvenience.
Simply write, “We know you are busy and have lots of things on your plate and that this is an inconvenience, but we appreciate you taking the time to do it.” They didn’t get how I felt. As I re-read the email, I felt more annoyed since it said they were switching to “a more user-friendly platform.” I was happy with the last one; it was friendly to me. I had set up a recurring gift, and each month it came out. This one was less user-friendly. I’m sure the organization had good reasons for switching their platform and software for giving, but it felt disingenuous to say it was for my benefit when it was actually an inconvenience.

Three, and this is the biggest one. Forget the rest of the blog and remember this one above all else: 
They didn’t thank me.
Development and donor relationships 101 is to say thank you in every communication you have with your supporters. I can’t emphasize this enough. Every single time you communicate with donors, say thank you. Every single time. I say this because I have sometimes failed to do it. I’ve blown it because gratitude does not come naturally to me. But I felt what it was like to be on the other side and not be thanked and it didn’t feel good. I felt like they didn’t appreciate my support. We can never have our donors feel that we are not grateful. If you forget to say thank you, apologize and say thank you.

Fourth, they didn’t give me a name of someone to contact.
They could have written, “If you have any questions or concerns, please e-mail me or call me.” Instead of warmth, I received only cold instructions. People give to people. Would I have e-mailed or called? Probably not, it wasn’t that complicated; but it just felt cold. The option for contact would have been good. In communications to our Rebuilt and Nativity donors, I always give my e-mail address and let people know to contact me if they have any prayer requests. Most people don’t respond, but I think just the offer communicates openness to a relationship.

I hope the above helps you with your communication to your donors and supporters. Remember that they are partnering with you in the mission to make disciples. Don’t take them for granted and always use every communication with them to build a relationship.

Rooting for you,
Tom