Follow-up Communications Can Sabotage Repeat Giving. Here’s How to Ensure That Doesn’t Happen

By Lisa Sargent

At the very least, common sense dictates that if you say you’ll do something, then do it. The surprise is over: Now I’m waiting for that gift. Don’t let it take another six to eight weeks to arrive.

Problem No. 2? That impersonal-sounding address verification form. I can’t fill it out unless the gift arrives. And the form sounds so official, so mass-produced, as if it came from the Internal Revenue Service.