Dear Ms. Brandt,
I thoroughly enjoyed your session at the AFP
Conference last week. I gave you good grades on the survey!
I thought you would get a chuckle out of the mailing I received the day I came home: My town of XXXX, is home to the largest of XXXXXX’s state universities. For the past few years, because my husband’s law firm has been doing a lot of work for the school, each of the partners has been contributing $5,000. This year, we haven’t made the gift yet, but my husband gave $300 to the basketball program in the winter. We received a computer-generated postcard-sized card, in a bulk mail envelope, asking us to give $4,700 to renew our membership in the $5,000 giving society!! I howled!!
Their entire database is probably 80,000 entities. Mine is 6,000, and I’m a one-woman shop, and I personalize every letter that leaves this place. The university probably has a staff of 10 development officers. And they can’t manage a personal letter for a $4,700 ask!! Eek! I feel like calling the new VP for Development and hinting that I know why they’re shy of their capital campaign goal.
Good luck in your work – thanks for a very informative session – worth every second.
I must say that I second her opinion. I am one to always fall on the side of a hand-written ask, but at that level there is no debate.
Take-away: Handwritten asks are the way to go, especially if it is a big one.
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