June 27, 2010 at 3:55 pm
After bombarding me (and no doubt many others) with requests for funds, The Smile Train starts its latest letter by saying “if you make just one gift ….we promise that we will never ask you for another donation again.”
Of course, it is not quite as simple as that! You have to look on the donation [...]
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June 12, 2010 at 5:53 pm
Fundraising has become so sophisticated that actions which bring on my grumbles may have been intentional – perhaps to get me to read more carefully! Anyway, here is a grumble about a letter with the heading Alzheimer’s Care and Research Fund. Nothing wrong with that, but the letter, referring of course to Alzheimer’s, soon introduces [...]
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May 11, 2010 at 2:54 pm
The size of envelopes for door-to-door collections really does matter. Collecting this week for Christian Aid, I welcome the larger envelopes. I have had (silver) cash filling an envelope. I feel sure that, with a smaller envelope, it, too, would have been filled – but with, of course, less cash.
There seem to be more cheques [...]
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May 6, 2010 at 3:51 pm
I am no admirer of The Smile Train’s fundraising approach (perhaps too much US influence?) It is working hard to reinforce my views. An envelope arrives from the charity, with REMINDER stamped on the outside in red ink. Inside is a follow-up letter to one they sent earlier, again asking for a donation.
I reckon that, [...]
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May 4, 2010 at 3:40 pm
The RSPB is asking for funds to be able to buy a new bird reserve (so what is new?). While the letter, appropriately enough, is signed by the Society’s Reserves Manager for South and West Scotland (since the land to be purchased is in Dumfries and Galloway), I would be surprised if he wrote it [...]
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April 30, 2010 at 4:10 pm
It’s good that many charities are realising how important it is not only to say ‘thank you’, but also how it is said. No longer, in many cases, is a ‘thank you’ letter simply an acknowledgement that the money has been received. It is the first step in securing the next donation!
I believe that a ‘thank [...]
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April 6, 2010 at 5:14 pm
If you put stamps on a Freepost envelope containing a donation to a charity, it is quite possible that Royal Mail will still charge the charity the normal Freepost fee – although the charity may be able to claim a refund.
One should be particularly careful to put enough postage on such an envelope (prices have just [...]
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March 15, 2010 at 5:30 pm
Is The Salvation Army living too much in the past? I have received a letter nicely thanking me at the outset for the support I have shown in the past. Yes – but the last donation was more than 12 years ago. The letter was sent to me at an address I left seven years [...]
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March 10, 2010 at 6:04 pm
A 2.5-page letter with poor grammar and a number of spelling mistakes (too much reliance on spellchecker?) has come from the Director of Clean Rivers Trust. It is not exactly a ‘punchy’ letter. One reads quite a bit, wondering when one will learn for what type of work money will be needed – because the [...]
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February 19, 2010 at 6:33 pm
Many charities are distinctly local. It may be a hospice with a defined catchment area, an air ambulance for one or more counties, a youth club in a specific town, or whatever.
In the past, such local charities secured much of their voluntary income from those living (or who had lived) in the area, local businesses, [...]
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