Return to sender! Is your address now unknown?
“Return to sender, address unknown!”
In 1962 a tall, dark-haired singer from Tupelo, Mississippi, released a Cashbox #1 hit by that same title.
Know who it was?
Yes, Elvis Presley.
So, what do Elvis and his hit record have to do with fundraising for nonprofits?
Plenty.
Do you agree?
A few years back part of my fundraising engagements for clients involved major donor visits.
On one trip to California there was a five-figure donor who had gone AWOL, so to speak.
My newly assigned job for this trip was to try and locate him.
All efforts to date had failed, but a last-gasp call from inside the LAX Admirals Club caught him.
Success!
Well, maybe . . .
As I introduced myself, the donor replied that he knew who I was and the purpose of my call.
More success! Well, so it seemed.
That is until he spoke this still, and always will be, memorable exchange of . . .
“When I sent my last $10,000 gift, no one called.
“Then, I sent a smaller gift of $5,000 and again, no one called.
“Next, a $1,000 gift followed by a $100 gift. Still, no calls of appreciation.”
This phone call was not going in as good a direction as first imagined.
Then he said these engrained words that are carried with me in every donor exchange today . . .
“So now, when I don’t send you gifts anymore, you finally call.
“Thank you, but you need not call anymore. My interest and my money have moved on to somewhere else.”
“Return to sender!”
Ouch. Disappointment. Sadness. Embarrassment.
Yes, the nonprofit had lost a five-figure donor. But that wasn’t the biggest regret.
The greater emptiness came in letting down someone who cared about the mission of the organization.
Someone who wanted to feed the hungry, house the homeless, and clothe the naked.
The donor was let down, plus those in need were also let down.
Let down by this organization not having a system to extend what all donors want in return for their gifts.
They want to be appreciated.
They want to be affirmed that they are truly helping the people that they care about.
To be informed as to how their gifts are being used, and . . .
To be respected for their time, treasure, and talent.
Too much to ask?
No.
And not likely that any nonprofit would say that this was too much consideration to extend.
At least not verbally. But, how about through their actions of not connecting timely,
appropriately, or respectfully with their donors?
During thirty-plus years as a professional fundraiser, interim chief development officer, and marketing agency founder, I have raised over $3.2 billion to date.
Plus, another $2 billion on top of that through strategies, procedures, and schedules that were set up for other top international ministries, organizations, and outreaches.
Tony Robbins speaks about the 6 basic needs of a human being.
All human beings, in fact, he says.
Tony lists the needs of: certainty, variety, significance, connection, growth, and contribution.
No contention here. And in fact, I would add at least one more.
That of “community.”
These needs appear too many times and in too many places across the hundreds of nonprofit donor files that we have worked with.
One deeply meaningful example of this was seen while assisting a relief and development nonprofit that had responded to a massive tornado in Oklahoma.
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An F-5 tornado, to be specific.
Damage and loss of life were extensive.
It was on the ground for almost an hour.
It followed a path of nearly 20 miles.
And at full extension, it was right at about 1.5 miles wide.
There was high media coverage nationwide. Thousands of people from all over volunteered to assist.
Including one family of a father and his young daughter.
They showed up around 10:30 pm to the disaster-relief warehouse on the outskirts of town.
Everyone had gone for the night and just as I clicked the last lock on the gate . . .
They drove into the front parking lot and pulled up next to me.
By looks of the pickup, it appeared to be well past ten years of age. Probably one of those storied 100,000-mile vehicles held together by bailing wire and duct tape.
The paint on the hood had eroded away. And the sideboards were rusted out from salt slush.
In the truck bed, there was a roped-down hill of various items.
Clothing. Blankets. Chairs. Plus, some other things hidden by the darkness.
As we unloaded the packed assortment of care, it seemed only neighborly to ask the dad where they were from.
“Tennessee,” said the man.
They had driven all day and evening to reach the relief center.
How that truck made such a long journey is still a mystery.
As I inquired about where they would spend the night before heading home, the stern-faced father looked at me and simply said . . .
“We are going now. We need to get back.”
After my many words of gratitude and various offers to assist in any way possible, they backed out and drove off into the darkness of the night never to be seen again.
Community. Care. Compassion.
All in a single expression of wanting to be involved.
To help when, where, and how they could, with what they had to contribute.
And, to do whatever would permit them to be involved.
People who show up late at night in a well-worn pickup are easy to thank.
Those who have given have earned the right to be recognized.
It’s easy to affirm what they have done to help, plus who they are as caring individuals.
And to do so not in just some easy-and-efficient email receipt accompanied by some generic thank you note from of all people, the “development staff.”
All fundraisers know that people give to people.
And people like to be connected with — and thanked by — people.
The mastery of fundraising is to build and implement a system that provides for the care and consideration of donors.
Back to Tony Robbins’s list . . .
Connection. Significance. Contribution.
And, Community.
To belong to, and be part of, something that is bigger than they are and actually includes them.
Even if only remotely by way of an aged pickup filled with love and care deadheaded to and from Tennessee for those struggling in Oklahoma.
For another international nonprofit in a totally different situation, we raised over $1.2 billion.
We did this by setting up, monitoring, and processing a system of care and connection that acknowledged and appreciated its donors.
We built it over time, providing the structure and types of heartfelt expressions that create a warm and accessible connection between the head of the organization and its donors.
So much so that we even had one donor who caught a metro train from the suburbs to bring his small gift into the downtown office each and every week over a long period of time.
When you care about those who care that you care about them, they too will care about caring for you and your organization.
Setting up an effective donor care and constituency development system takes time, skill, and widespread experience.
It’s something we do here at the Bigham Agency every day all day because we have learned what to do by learning what not to do that makes a difference for a donor and a nonprofit.
In today’s exponentially advancing world of high-speed AI, driven by internal demands for greater efficiency and reduced costs, the true confluence of being cared about and being personally recognized comes from being reminded about what never changes.
Personal care, professional courtesy, and individual consideration.
Even if the reminder to do so is delivered through a still painful phone call made from the LAX
Admirals Club that poignantly says . . .
Return to sender, no such address!
Journey on for the good of all,
E. Paul
