How to get their attention...
Posted by mha
How to get their attention...
Posted by: mha (---)
Date: December 05, 2002 09:01PM
Got some feedback today from a friend of a friend of a friend who happens to work in fundraising at, of all places, BU. (Never mind who the intervening friends are.) Her attention had been drawn to my letter as posted on eLF, and she had some suggestions to share.
* We'll have the biggest impact if a lot of people actually stop donating (whether to Athletics or the University as a whole) or say they're going to. People who've never given saying they're not going to start is far less effective. People who've given and say they'll stop makes development folks take notice.
* Telling the fundraising caller that you're not going to give probably won't help, as the student on the other end may just check off a routine "unhappy with administration" checkbox. Following up with a letter is key. Go into specifics.
* Letters have more impact than a phone call. It's hard to ignore a piece of paper.
* If you get a solicitation in the mail, return it with a note explaining why you're not giving, or the lack of response will go utterly unnoticed except as a statistic.
* Everyone should send their own letter. Even if you're just thinking about changing your donation habits, a letter from you could have a lot of impact.
* Letters should be sent to the fundraising folks, not the AD, though it couldn't hurt to CC them.
So where should the letters go? My e-mail went to:
Cornell Annual Fund <cornell_fund@cornell.edu>,
Laura Toy <llt1@cornell.edu>,
John Webster <jlw9@cornell.edu>
and I CCed:
Mike Schafer <mcs14@cornell.edu>,
Pete Noyes <ppn2@cornell.edu>
As for sending a piece of paper, here are the relevant addresses:
Cornell Fund
55 Brown Road
Ithaca NY 14850
Laura Toy
Alumni Affairs & Development
245 Day Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca NY 14853
All of the others are in Athletics...
Teagle Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca NY 14853
So go ahead. Be polite. Be concise. Be factual rather than judgemental. And if you're like me and you don't think you'll actually ever get around to sending a piece of paper, go ahead and do it in e-mail.
* We'll have the biggest impact if a lot of people actually stop donating (whether to Athletics or the University as a whole) or say they're going to. People who've never given saying they're not going to start is far less effective. People who've given and say they'll stop makes development folks take notice.
* Telling the fundraising caller that you're not going to give probably won't help, as the student on the other end may just check off a routine "unhappy with administration" checkbox. Following up with a letter is key. Go into specifics.
* Letters have more impact than a phone call. It's hard to ignore a piece of paper.
* If you get a solicitation in the mail, return it with a note explaining why you're not giving, or the lack of response will go utterly unnoticed except as a statistic.
* Everyone should send their own letter. Even if you're just thinking about changing your donation habits, a letter from you could have a lot of impact.
* Letters should be sent to the fundraising folks, not the AD, though it couldn't hurt to CC them.
So where should the letters go? My e-mail went to:
Cornell Annual Fund <cornell_fund@cornell.edu>,
Laura Toy <llt1@cornell.edu>,
John Webster <jlw9@cornell.edu>
and I CCed:
Mike Schafer <mcs14@cornell.edu>,
Pete Noyes <ppn2@cornell.edu>
As for sending a piece of paper, here are the relevant addresses:
Cornell Fund
55 Brown Road
Ithaca NY 14850
Laura Toy
Alumni Affairs & Development
245 Day Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca NY 14853
All of the others are in Athletics...
Teagle Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca NY 14853
So go ahead. Be polite. Be concise. Be factual rather than judgemental. And if you're like me and you don't think you'll actually ever get around to sending a piece of paper, go ahead and do it in e-mail.
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