"WHAT WE’VE GOT HERE IS A FAILURE TO COMMUNICATE."

Remember that great line from the movie Cool Hand Luke.

One neglected area where communication fails miserably is during Post Gift Communications.

A study showed that 84% of individual donors and 83% of corporate donors voiced dissatisfaction about the quality of information and appropriate response they receive from the charity they have just supported.

The very least that most donors expect and deserve after they have made a contribution is:

1. Prompt personal acknowledgement of their gift

2. Conformation that it was used for the purpose it was intended

3. Meaningful results

The act of giving for the donor is an act of love, an unselfish response that combines an emotional feeling with an intellectual decision. Their passion can easily be quashed if the charity fails to acknowledge and adequately thank the giver in a timely manner.

As I stated before, is it any wonder that many charities find that renewal rates from first time donors often drop by as much as 50% and that 90% of lapsed donors slowly tend to evaporate within five renewal campaigns.

Many studies have reported that only a handful of charities bother to send a "thank-you" note in a timely manner.

Donor attrition increases when there is silence or acknowledgement that is badly communicated.

If you don't give them timely evidence of the good done with their contributions, they will quickly draw their own conclusions. They may feel:

1. The charity did not live up to its mandate

2. They don't need me.

A typical thank you note often looks like this:

            Thank you,

            YOUR TRANSACTION WAS APPROVED!

            Please print a copy of this receipt for your records.