You are not expecting too much. It is the basic principle of proper stewardship to acknowledge all donors- regardless of amount, purpose or timing.

I used to work for an organziation with numerous major donors who gave $10,000+. And you know what? We still sent a well-crafted, full-page acknowledgement letter to the $5 donor on our letterhead and spent the time to print, fold and stuff the mail-merged envelope before we stood in front of the postage meter in the mailroom to stamp and send it to the donor within 24-48 hours. Why? Because that $5 donor was a prospect- for an annual commitment, a larger gift, and perhaps even a planned gift. And it was our duty to steward the donors who supported us. One thing that many fundraisers tend to take for granted is the fact that philanthropy is optional! And nonprofits are competing for the same dollars from the same donors! I wonder what the donor retention rate is for an organization that ignores their donors under $250. I can’t believe someone actually told you that you are not acknowledgement worthy! I can think of a hundred better explanations to tell the donor… “it’s in the mail” would even suffice!

Great experiment Jim. I’d be interested in hearing from organizations that have such a policy (or similar one) in hopes of understanding the rationale behind these policies. There’s obviously an opportunity to provide value here; donors want to be thanked, organizations understand there significant value in thanking them, but something (cost? effort?) is outweighing that value and the Business Analyst in me wants to know what it is so I can figure out what to do about it!

I just love the argument of “It’s not our policy…”. Makes me want to vomit every time I hear it.

In my opinion that kind of policy demonstrates a glaring lack of forward-looing vision. they don’t see that you as the small donor, if properly cultivated could be the large donor in 10 years. Your “experimenting” is probably a pretty universal sentiment, even if people are not consciously doing it.

Kathleen, Rich, and Peter,

Thanks for confirming that it’s not me who’s crazy; it’s their ridiculous policy that’s crazy. To each of your points, small donors can eventually become major donors, and/or planned gift donors. And, it is a fundamental principle of stewardship to acknowledge everyone, from the $5 donor to the $1million+ donor, just as Kathleen says.

Rich - I am also curious if there are others who have a similar policy.

Like Peter, I can’t believe that there are organizations out there who do not acknowledge the gift! (Even a form letter receipt AT LEAST).

I have only worked for two non-profit organizations so far; but in both cases we acknowledge every single gift we get - no matter the amount.

In my opinion, the organization may never know what/if the donor had to sacrifice to give the gift - so acknowledgement is KEY.

Also, if they are RE clients there should be someway that they could manage this in a cost effective way…

(stepping off my soap box now)

Elaine, thanks for stepping up on your soapbox! Yea, I am still amazed. And, the fact that they all ARE Raiser’s Edge clients is what surprises me the most. How easy is it to create a receipt, or an acknowledgement, right?

This is a soapbox off of which I cannot seem to step down.

I was recently told this by a nonprofit regarding a personal MEMORIAL gift I made in memory of my grandmother. At first I was shocked but figured - oh well, they won’t be getting anymore of my money in the future. Not only did they not acknowledge the gift, they told me it was their policy not to receipt gifts and that I could use my cancelled check. My bank hasn’t given me a cancelled check for 10 years!? I was relieved to hear others’ comments & discover these types of “policies” are not standard!

I’ve worked for nonprofits for over a decade. While I understand your point, I think that there are a few problems, both with donors and with the agencies being donated to. Giving, true giving, should require nothing in return [with the exception of whatever the IRS requires more than a cancelled check or credit-card statement]. Thanking, true thanking, should be nothing more than a few lines expressing gratitude [as opposed to a marketing piece intended solely to make smaller donors into much bigger donors, and to keep all donors giving]. We wax philosophically about being mis-treated by the places we’re giving to, and we forget entirely why we’re giving to those places [to help them achieve their missions, not to help them achieve the mission of Miss Manners!]. I, too, appreciate being thanked, and formally. But I’ve worked first-hand with nonprofits, smaller to mid-sized ones, and I’d be the first to say: save the $45k salary you spend in thanking me and managing your database and put it to use by spending it on programs [and $45k is a conservative estimate of the personnel costs involved in a "simple" thank you].

What a great test of gratuity! I feel that every donation, be it hard goods or money, should be acknowledge no matter what or how much it is. As others have said, you never know if this gift will turn into something major.

I have learned over the past years just how powerful the two words “thank you” can be. Have you ever notice how you feel when your employer, just out of the blue, says to you, “thank you for all you do for our company!”? It adds a positive step in your day. This is important for each and every person, no matter if they are a millionaire or someone trying to make ends meet on a small monthly income. For a non-profit not to use these words with ALL their donors, I believe they are really cutting themselves short.

Again Jim, great test! You do wonderful work for Blackbaud!

I have worked in the non-profit sector for over 25 years and have heard it all. Donors want to be thanked and I can assure you that the most successful orginizations I have worked for and with thank everyone! Many of them have Executives who arrive early and write the notes personally. I can’t tell you how much of an impact and hand written note makes on a donor!

Jim stay on your soapbox.

For the organization that only acknowledges over $250, here’s what happened to me during the last 3 weeks. I received notification of a bequest three weeks ago and followed-up with the requested paperwork. Unfortunately, the paperwork is floating around in a postal processing center somewhere so the executor called my boss today asking about it. During the phone call, my boss inquires about the deceased (she had never donated to us before). The executor said that he was a donor (I looked him up; he is an occasional…not even annual…$100 donor). He told her about my organization - as well as many other organizations - for consideration in her estate plans. Why? Because we thanked him each time and told him in the thank you letter how his donation impacted the people we serve.

Beyond this story (or the hundreds of similar stories we could all tell), it is simply good manners to thank everyone for his/her donation. The crumpled one dollar bill or random coins taped to a piece of paper I receive in the mail from the donor with shaky handwriting is probably more important to that donor than a $1000 check that Joe Bigbucks slides across the table after a dinner at his favorite fine-dining restaurant.

It takes a lot of 40 cent letters to make up for the $300,000+ we’re receiving from the estate.

In response to Cain Farmer.

The money is already being spent on that salary - we know this because the organizations are RE clients. Therefore, there is absolutely no excuse for not thanking someone for their gift. In our organization every dollar we receive is a gift, not a donation. As such, every gift deserves a thank you. We also have had several “small” donors who have remembered us in their estate. I believe it is because we remembered to thank them over the years for their kindness. And yes, we do have a donor who sends us a check for $1 every year. We thank him and send him our annual newsletter every year.

I used to work for an organization that had a similar policy. They would acknowledge first gifts, with the explanation that as a “good steward” they would not acknowledge monthly gifts until the end of the year. After being with the group for a few years, I convinced them that it would be prudent for all gifts to be acknowledged every month. Did it make a difference? I’m not sure….those who had been giving for years were puzzled. Some liked it, most were quiet.
I still believe that there are basic principles involved, and you are right. RE makes it easy to acknowledge all gifts, no matter what the size of the gift. But in the long run, I’m not sure it made a huge difference. I’d still do it again, however. It seems only right to thank someone when they give you a gift.

I have to agree with all who have stood on your soapbox with you, Jim. I am certainly not wealthy, but I intend to leave at least a small bequest to some non-profit organization. Much of the decision-making process as to which one revolves around how these organizations have responded to my $25 - $100 gifts. A few stand out, because they have made me feel that this gift was as important to them as if it had been $1,000+. So far, I’ve not encountered an organization that did not thank me, but if I ever do, they will certainly fall off the list of possible recipients!
It was with great delight that I included the name of a $5 donor, whom I know works as a cleaning lady and struggles to make ends meet, in our list of donors in the annual report, and our list of recipients for that report.

Jim - I do understand your point of view, however, acknowledgements cost money and the non-profit work is just that NON-PROFIT. If you want to give to an organization that uses its money wisely - then look for one that provides its constituents with a periodic News Letter on its actions and provides up to date information of its efforts on a web-site.

I have worked for multiple non-profit orgs and the standard acknowledgement gift amount is common – WHY? Because mailing cost a lot of money. So why not use e-mail to send thanks, like you said they have RE? Do you know that most users of RE do not even come close to tapping into the abilities that RE has to offer – most non-profits function with a skeleton crew that are there because they believe enough in the cause to provide their time to do something about it AND they do not have high-end computer skills. RE is not an easy product to learn much less use to your average non-profit employee.

Just because a donation is not acknowledged does not mean it is not appreciated – looking for praise however is self-seeking and that is not a big part of the non-profit world.