January, 2010
Do Donors Demand Fast Thank You Letters or Gift Receipts?
Quite a few organizations ponder the question of how quickly to thank their donors or acknowledge their gifts. The results of a recent poll by Campbell Rinker deliver some surprising results on this topic.
Many organizations strive to send out a thank-you receipt within a few days of receiving a gift. Quite a few development managers nobly pursue this objective. Previous donor studies have shown that being thanked appropriately is one of nine key traits that communicate quality service to donors. And speedily acknowledging donor gifts gives the impression of qualified management at the organization – one of the building blocks of organizational reputation and donor trust.
Yet in our December Donor Confidence Poll, six in ten respondents – 60% of the respondents – say they DON’T expect the organization to thank them. Why do donors have such low expectations? Perhaps the best explanation comes from donors themselves. Campbell Rinker routinely conducts depth interviews with donors of varying size gifts, conversations which often have the donors explaining why they give. First of all, donors tell us that they don’t give out of a desire for recognition. They see being thanked as equal to being recognized, and these results tell as that at least six in ten aren’t doing it for the recognition at all. They don’t expect to be thanked because typically, they give to help the organization fulfill its mission, not as a way to get anything in return.
Also, donors don’t want to cause the organization an administrative burden, or to have it appear that monies from their gift were used to thank them.
That being said, an appropriate thank-you is a perk that leaves donors feeling good about a nonprofit. The key word is appropriate: Thanks from an organization should remain true to the size of the gift. A $5 donor hardly expects a call from the chairman of the board, and a million dollar donor would hardly feel their gift was understood if they received a form letter in the mail.
On the flip side, four in ten donors say they DO expect a thank-you from the organization, and they provide a timeline for when that contact might occur. One donor in 50 expects a thank-you within a few days of their gift. One in twenty expects it within a week, one in six expects a thank-you within a couple weeks and one in seven expects to be thanked within a month.
More donors expect a tax receipt than expect gratitude (seven in ten, to be exact, want an acknowledgement of their gift for tax purposes. The highest proportion (28%) expect this receipt within a month, but sizeable groups say they expect to hear back that the organization has received their gift within two weeks (22%) or within a week (10%).
Generally, we found that people who give to political, international and arts organizations have the shortest expected turnaround for a thank-you. Donors expect a thank-you to arrive about ten days sooner than an acknowledgement for tax purposes. International, faith-based and library supporters were found to allow organizations the most time before expecting a tax receipt.
Here is what Campbell Rinker takes away from these results:
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An organization’s actions need to speak to quality record-keeping and management first. |
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Today’s donor thinks an organization should send a thank-you sooner than they send a gift acknowledgement for tax purposes. However, fewer donors expect gratitude at all from the organizations they support. |
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Quality record-keeping trumps manners in terms of correct protocol among donors. |
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Sending a gift receipt that doubles as a thank-you to donors is probably most appropriate for gifts of $25 or less. Gifts over $25 probably merit some additional attention to deliver the most positive impression. How much more attention is a tactical decision best left to the nonprofit, but at minimum mailing separate thank-you’s and tax receipts might be a good start. More individual attention could be added to the thank-you as the gift size increases. |
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Organizations should strive to send a mail acknowledgement within a week of receiving a gift. This will meet the expectations of all but about 15% of donors, who expect a gift receipt sooner. Receipts for electronic gifts should be generated automatically and sent as soon as the gift is made. |
When do you expect to receive a written thank-you or acknowledgement of a gift you've made to a charity?
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