Attention certain nonprofits:
You already have me as a friend & supporter/donor, and I’m happy to send you a contribution once a year.
In the meantime, PLEASE stop sending me continuous solicitations!
- I don’t want/need frequent reminders to give to your cause.
- I don’t want you to send me any more pins, note cards, mailing labels, decals, etc.
- I don’t want you to waste any more paper and postage.
- Most of all, I don’t want you to waste precious time (mine and yours) – especially when you can take whatever time and expense you’re spending on these unnecessary mailings and reallocate them to furthering your mission.
I’m not saying that you should stop all your fundraising efforts – just the multiple ones to me … unless you no longer want my contribution.
So I urge you to stop.
Consider this fair warning: donor alienation is just one mailing away.
2 replies on “Stop Fundraising!”
Sybil, you speak for a lot of us. The problem is that for big organizations, tactics like that still raise more money–and small organizations copy them whether they can measure the results or not.
This situation may be coming to an end. I hear many, many millenials objecting to the environmental impact of constant mailings. In fifteen years, organizations will have to listen to them or go broke. Better to learn now how to raise funds without all those mailings.
Well said. May I copy/adapt, with proper credit to QSM, in my own messages to those nonprofits? Thanks for addressing this issue.