Apr
I’m taking a moment to file some acknowledgments (I use a binder for fiscal years; anyone else got a better system?) and I smiled when I saw a recent stack. The top acknowledgment was to a board member who is universally adored by our staff. One of our leaders who signed the acknowledgment not only signed it in a colored pen, but drew a hot sauce bottle on the letter and wrote “Tabasco cuz u r hot, baby.” Other letters go out with smiley faces, hearts, and exclamation points.
Maybe it’s just a function of working at a theater with a really playful brand, but it makes for a happy development gal when the leadership uses their authenticity so naturally like that. That’s how you build relationships – it starts with being real and accessible.
While it sounds like a big “DUH,” personalizing solicitations or acknowledgments can be a harder than it seems, and I’m glad that it comes easily to my current leadership.
More importantly, problems in effective personalization often point to more systemic problems at the organization. Let me end with an example or two.
Example #1: A former boss at a past organization would agonize over what he/she wrote on the acknowledgment letters and try to be really strategic, referencing life events or that their kids went to the same school, etc. He/she spent too much time trying to engineer relationships where they didn’t exist yet – and because he/she wasn’t being authentic, I thought many of the “personalizations” fell flat or otherwise felt faux. It was too much, too soon for most of the donors – which was the story of our development efforts.
Example #2: Another former manager who was chief development officer thought he/she ran a tight development ship – but acknowledgments were never hand-signed, much less personalized by anyone in staff or volunteer leadership. It was a matter of volume – an organization with thousands of annual donors. But if volume keeps you from being effective or taking minimal strides to create good relationships, then you know what? You don’t have enough development staff. And if you asked anyone in development at that organization, where the development staff numbered in the teens (versus four at the org above and just me at my current job), 80% of them or more would have told you they felt overwhelmed by their workloads.