I was speaking my American friend Greg recently about fundraising. I had been looking at the donation pages for US political candidates and knowing that he's a politically active fellow, I was certain he could answer a couple questions I had regarding the odd amount options on their pages.
We never did get around to all my questions, because he was quite disgusted over an email he received from the Obama campaign. He had previously donated to the Obama Campaign and had received a "Thank You" email following the Iowa Caucus win. His initial response to the email was quite positive. He was highly impressed with the "personal" email thanking him for his contribution and outlining how his support had contributed to the Iowa success. He was genuinely pleased to receive the email.
More, More, MORE.... but really - Thanks!
His positive emotions and support soon changed, when he discovered the "donate/contribute now" button at the bottom of the email. He regards this approach as a "cheap and manipulative tactic. For Greg, it diminished the sincerity and appreciation expressed in the email. Needless to say, he did not click on that donate now link.
Interestingly, this follows an interesting comment I received from another well known Canadian Fundraising expert, David Love - Executive Director for the TRCA Conservation Foundation. I recently worked on a Crisis Marketing Plan using TRCA as the basis for the plan. David was kind enough to read the 40+ page document and provide feedback.
One of the recommendations within my report was to ensure that all TRCA Conservation Foundation newsletters include "an ask". David responded that this may not be an appopriate course of action and recommended that I pick up a copy of Penelope Burk's book: "Donor Centered Fundraising" (formerly Thanks! A Guide to Donor Centered Fundraising)
As I talked with my American friend, I relayed to him some of the response statistics for thank-you letter/email donation requests. He asked me "how deep do people track this?". My response was a very eloquent: "Huh?" He then proceeded to ask a very interesting question....
What do we really know?
How many years/cycles do we track these numbers? We may well get high response rates and high dollars as an immediate response to a direct darketing thank you communication - but how many people do we lose and what types of donors are they? If we raise 100K as a direct response to a thank-you appeal, but we lose 300K because a number of higher contributors become disillusioned with our organization and never contribute again - we have clearly done harm to our organization.
Another factor to consider is the human propensity to "say one thing and do another". We know that people claim to dislike negative political advertisements and shock advertising. However, we also know that human behaviour and donation patterns indicate that people do respond to these kinds of appeals.
It's interesting to note that although my American friend did not hit click the "Donate Now" button on the Obama thank-you email, he did donate to the Obama Campaign again, after the New Hampshire loss. So in spite of his frustration with the campaigns decision to combine a thank-you with an appeal for more contributions... he wasn't unhappy enough to stop providing financial support to the campaign.
Do As I Say - Ignore What I Do!
It would be interesting to research this further and determine what statistics are available in the charitable sector regarding the long-term donation results of individuals who receive thank-you appeals. I have ordered Burk's book and look forward to reading it - however, the book description appears to indicate that her research is based on donor feedback. While donor feedback and their expressed wishes are a priority concern for all fundraisers and their organizations, we must also be mindful of how people act and respond. I know that a number of organizations work hard to keep statistics on response rates and various other related statistics. But how well are organizations tracking long-term (2, 3, 5+ years) actions of direct marketing donors? I'd be most interested in hearing from anyone who has access to long-term data in this area.
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