On the first day of November, I sent out 49 small “white mail” gifts.
After 3-weeks, here is what I received:
- Two of the gifts were returned because the address was undeliverable.
- Of the 47 gifts that (I think) were delivered, I have received 14 acknowledgments (30% acknowledgment rate).
Now, there could be a lot of reasons why 70% of my received gifts were not (yet) acknowledged:
- Maybe some of my gifts got lost in the mail.
- Maybe some of my gifts are still being processed.
- Some of my receipts might be using nonprofit (slow) postage and haven’t arrived yet.
- Maybe some acknowledgments were batched and still waiting to be sent.
- Maybe my gifts ($10) were too small to acknowledge.
Whatever the reason, we have to do better at acknowledging gifts.
In the 25 years I have been in this business, one of the consistent recommendations is making it a priority to acknowledge gifts. All gifts – even $10 ones – should receive a receipt sent first class. And yes, even online gifts should get a mailed receipt.
Every donor – whether they say so or not – wants to have their gift acknowledged. Plus, it’s just the right thing to do.