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Fundraising Tuesday: What Donors Think When You Mess Up their Name

November 24, 2020 by Dennis Fischman 1 Comment

Does it really matter when you get a donor’s name wrong? Just ask the donors.

I did.

On my personal Facebook page, I put up last week’s Communicate! blog post, Fundraising Tuesday: Using Your Database to Get the Name Right. And then I asked, “I’m just curious: have YOU ever been asked for money by a group that couldn’t get your name right?”

The answers

“All the time,” said Rabab. “All the time,” said Dmitry.

“Oh yes, all the time. Mr. Lee,” said Ms. Lee.

Lauren told me, “Yep. I’ve gotten ‘Laura,’ I’ve gotten my last name spelled wrong… From people asking for money, and scams too.”

Meg said firmly, “*All* the time. I get mashups of my mother’s name (Mary Kay) and mine now too.”

Doug said, “For some reason, the DNC thinks my name is Cecil.”

From a friend whose last name is Crary: “Happens to me all the time. For some reason, my last name defies logic or something. I particularly love when it autocorrects to ‘crazy’.”

From a friend whose first name is Pam: “I get a fair number of things addressed to “Vam,” which I finally realized is what “P” looks like when I’m writing quickly.”

Marla tells me her name is now Maria. “Say it soft, and it’s almost…🙏”

Lois says, “😂 All the time. I keep an envelope of misspelled names.”

Helene says, “I’m actually amazed when they get it right.”

How does it make donors feel to be misnamed?

I said to my Facebook friends, “Thank you all!” (Because thank-you’s are almost as important as getting names right.) And I asked,  “Here’s a follow-up question for you: what would you like the organization that sent you that piece of mail to know about how you react when you see it?”

Meg: That they should hire enough staff that they have time to get things right – and pay enough to get good people.

Sandy: That I feel disrespected and treated like a commodity in such circumstances. (Especially the spelling… I don’t feel disrespected re the gender issue.)

Lois: I probably wouldn’t say it 🙂. Meg: And they’d probably attribute your opinion to Louis  anyway. Lois: If I were lucky!

Why would you ever make donors feel dissed?

wrong nameYou are out there asking donors to give you their money, in a year when many of them either lost their jobs, made a lot less, or helped their families and friends in need.

You are asking at a time when every other nonprofit in the country, and sometimes, other countries, is asking for them to give as well.

If you have done a good job up to this point, the donor understands why giving to you might make a difference toward a result they care about a lot.

Why would you spoil all that by being inattentive to their names?

Now, you might get lucky. One of my friends, Jerry, told me:

So we just received a double first name solicitation envelope [like the “Mr. Rona Dennis” envelope I received!] from a national org that we have supported for years. I decided to write to them just to see what would happen. We received an emailed apology within the hour, and they said that a data input error was the reason, and promised to fix it. I thanked them and asked if there was a way to reduce the frequency for paper mailings. They do good work, so we will still support them.

Jerry and his wife are forbearing and forgiving. Not everyone is equally kind, or patient. Do you really want to test your donor’s capacity to put up with insults? Do you really want to push good donors away from you like that, or wouldn’t you rather bring them closer?

It’s not so hard. Just be sure to get the names right. Jerry, Meg, Lois, Sandy, Helene, Marla, Pam, Laura, Doug, Lauren, Lee, Rabab, Dmitry, and I are all here to tell you: it makes all the difference in the world.

 

 

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Fundraising Tuesday: Using Your Database to Get the Name Right

November 17, 2020 by Dennis Fischman Leave a Comment

My wife’s name is Rona. My name is Dennis.

There is no one at our household whose name is “Mr. Rona Dennis.”

Yet that is the person the United Way is asking for money.

Why it’s crucial to get the name right

no recyclingAs a nonprofit fundraiser, when I see a mistake like the one the United Way made, I shudder. Why? Because I know that the average donor will see that envelope and throw it away.

If you mail an envelope to the wrong name, it's like mailing it to the wrong address. It will never be seen. Click To Tweet

People’s names matter to them. It’s vital to get the name right. If you mess up on the name, you are saying to the donor, “I have no idea who you are, and I don’t care. You don’t matter to me: only your check.”

In fact, your nonprofit needs to know not only the donor’s name, but what they like to be called. Am I Mr. Dennis Fischman? Dennis Fischman? Dennis? Or something else?

Even a dear friend letter will get tossed, unread. But that’s presuming the donor has actually opened the envelope to see the salutation. If the name on the envelope is wrong, whoosh! Into the recycling bin it goes, no matter if you wrote the ideal appeal letter and tucked it inside.

How to make sure you get the name right

The best way to know what the person likes to be called is to ask. Then, you have to make sure to enter the correct information into the database. But you have to enter it into the correct fields, too.

Look again at what the United Way did. I’d bet they meant to place “Rona” in a Donor 1 field and “Dennis” in a Donor 2. Or else, they meant to put “Rona and Dennis” in the First Name field and “Fischman” in the last name. (It depends how their database is set up.)

Instead, though, someone put “Rona” in the First Name, then skipped to the next field, Last Name, and put “Dennis.” They didn’t double-check, and they didn’t ask themselves where “Fischman” was supposed to go. Enter the street address, city, state, and zip. On to the next set of data to enter!

You can do better than that.

Just take an extra moment before you save the entry to double-check it.

Otherwise, the recycle bin is waiting!

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Fundraising Tuesday: How to Ensure Donors Read Your Letter

June 23, 2020 by Dennis Fischman Leave a Comment

Yes, you can raise funds this summer.

I’ve been showing you how asking for donations in the middle of a pandemic and an uprising against racism is actually doing your donors a favor. One of the things donors want most in times like these is the feeling of making a difference, and you can give that to them! (If you don’t, other nonprofits will.)

I’ve also been explaining how to raise funds even if your nonprofit works on issues that have very little relation to Covid-19 or to murders of Black people and other people of color by police. Take the A-B-C approach to fundraising: Acknowledge the crises. Be responsive. Continue to pursue your mission.

 

 

 

 

Direct mail works–better than asking by email, and much better than fundraising online. Sure, the best approach is a multichannel fundraising campaign. But it all comes back to the letter. And job #1 is to make sure the donor actually reads it!

So, how do you give the donor everything she needs to want to open and read your fundraising appeal?

Here’s how to make sure that letter you worked so hard to write gets read:

Envelopes Make Donors Want to Open Your Mail.

Once your donor opens the envelope, the postscript is the most important part of your appeal letter. (So important that here are four more ways to use postscripts!)

If you want a donor to read your letter, “Dear Friend” won’t cut it. Get their name right.

“But how do I know what the donor likes to be called?” Ask their name.

Use photos that tell the story.

Ms. Marvel hero

How your donor should see herself

Tell stories in words, too! And be sure to make the donor the hero of the story.

Follow these six steps and donors will be intrigued by the envelope, attracted by the letter, moved by the story, and motivated to give.

 

 

 

 

 

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