Acknowledging donors’ gifts well and with haste can go a long way.

By Timothy Burgess

The risks of slow ‘thank you’ messages
Failure to quickly and correctly acknowledge a donor’s gift can be organizational suicide. No donor’s going to give again until his previous gift is properly acknowledged. Would you?

Still, it seems that saying “thank you” in a timely fashion is difficult for some organizations. Last summer, as part of a continuing study of how nonprofit organizations communicate with their donors, my colleagues sent $20 contributions to 21 organizations. The gifts were mailed on July 7, 2005, by regular First Class mail.