Web Exclusive: How to Survive Donor Complaints
Fundraisers needn’t be intimidated by complaints from donors. Not when you can answer with the truth.
May 2007 By Jeff Brooks
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If you were an evil person (which, of course, you aren’t), and you wanted to do serious harm to a nonprofit organization (which, of course, you don’t), here’s an easy way: Find out about its most successful fundraising effort, and complain about it. To really make it work, recruit a few friends to complain about the same thing. Just a handful will do the trick.
Your complaints could set off a flurry of self-destructive activity: campaigns gutted of their motivational power, media buys slashed, lawyers called in to turn clear communications into other-worldly jargon. Fundraising campaigns that motivated thousands of people to give could be scrapped — because a few people complained. I’ve seen it happen!
But why do complaints have so much power? It stems from the nagging fear that the complainers might be right.
Needed: organizational self-confidence
Any nonprofit worth its salt examines its marketing efforts all the time. That’s how it knows what works and what doesn’t. If it’s doing something ineffective, it finds out makes the necessary changes.
If you’re on top of what you do, all you need when dealing with complainers is the truth:
A well-run fundraising program won’t be complaint-free. In fact, complaints often signal that you’re doing something right. Why? If your stuff is boring, you get few complaints. Imagine a complaint like this: Your letter didn’t get my attention, and I was unmoved by what you said.
But if your stuff grabs people by the collar and forces them to pay attention, you’ll make some folks uncomfortable — and some will complain.
Does this mean you just dismiss complaints? Not at all.
Many complainers are loyal donors who are experiencing something that doesn’t work for them, and they just want to make it right. You can — and should — satisfy them.
Your complaints could set off a flurry of self-destructive activity: campaigns gutted of their motivational power, media buys slashed, lawyers called in to turn clear communications into other-worldly jargon. Fundraising campaigns that motivated thousands of people to give could be scrapped — because a few people complained. I’ve seen it happen!
But why do complaints have so much power? It stems from the nagging fear that the complainers might be right.
Needed: organizational self-confidence
Any nonprofit worth its salt examines its marketing efforts all the time. That’s how it knows what works and what doesn’t. If it’s doing something ineffective, it finds out makes the necessary changes.
If you’re on top of what you do, all you need when dealing with complainers is the truth:
- Our mail schedule is not a waste of money.
- Our communications are effective at getting support.
- The things we say literally are true.
A well-run fundraising program won’t be complaint-free. In fact, complaints often signal that you’re doing something right. Why? If your stuff is boring, you get few complaints. Imagine a complaint like this: Your letter didn’t get my attention, and I was unmoved by what you said.
But if your stuff grabs people by the collar and forces them to pay attention, you’ll make some folks uncomfortable — and some will complain.
Does this mean you just dismiss complaints? Not at all.
Many complainers are loyal donors who are experiencing something that doesn’t work for them, and they just want to make it right. You can — and should — satisfy them.
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