To think that charities should be better at saying thank you? A donor's lament.

[FreshFreesias]

Some years ago I set up a Trust that makes substantial donations to small and medium animal charities and I am often disappointed to rarely be thanked or acknowledged. Of course, I don’t donate to receive a pat on the back, but it is distressing to receive a generic printed-out thank you form for a 5 figure donation, to have my name misspelt or even, bizarrely, have my bank thanked in a charity’s annual report rather than the Trust.

There is rarely any follow up describing how a donation was spent and what value it has created.

What charities don’t understand is that if they take the time to build up personal relationships with their donors, especially their large donors, they will be ahead of the pack and we will continue to donate to them and remember them in our wills.

I once made a 10k donation to a respected medium-sized charity and in a note with the cheque said I would like to be more involved with elephant and dolphin conservation. I got a lovely note back from the CEO, who I have met before, asking me to contact his secretary to organise a meeting. I’m not sure why the secretary couldn’t contact me herself but never mind. So I duly emailed the secretary and never heard anything back.

Astonishingly, given this tawdry treatment, (I was so upset on discovering that African baby elephants were being torn from their herds to sell to Chinese zoos and this charity specialises in zoo welfare), I contacted the CEO again, pledging 20k to kick start a campaign about this. Again he emailed me, copying in his (presumably very busy) secretary, saying she would contact me to organise a meeting, but she never did. Presumably they are so overwhelmed with large donations, they couldn’t be bothered to follow up mine.

I've had more luck with small rescue charities in Europe, who maintain regular contact, make us feel we are doing something worthwhile and are making a difference.

AIBU to think that charities should spend as much time thanking and building relationships with donors as they do in crafting their appeals for dosh?

Charities are busy I know some of them will have dedicated staff to write letters but you do get some thanks if you think a particular charity is grabby and ungrateful stop donating or maybe scale back.

I think this is part of a wider problem of charities not being properly accountable and transparent.

When they send out their appeals (I get loads), it would be really helpful if they gave some info about governance - that is, how much is spent on admin, how much they pay their CEO.

They just expect people to donate on a wave of goodwill without any real info

Yes they ought to do better than that - partly out of basic courtesy but also because a lot of donors will choose an alternative charity.

OP I have worked for a couple of big charities

As a result, I wouldn't donate to any big charity. That secretary is probably very overloaded while directors go on "workshops" and spend a fucking fortune just on catering.

Yes, that comes as no surprise!
Donators need to be very vigilant and do a lot of research and not take charities on face value.

I don’t think it’s grabby to expect something back from five figure donations. These charities attempt to operate like corporate businesses so you’d expect a similar amount of client care. Personally when I donate I don’t even mind money going to big salaries or even catering - I know this is part of a wider business plan to generate more income and good talent expect decent pay so they can run their lives. I should think a certain amount of schmoozing makes good sense.

Did you chase up the secretaries at all?

Small and medium ones probably won’t be paying people to do PR with donors to try to make donors feel good to increase donations. Might mean they have lower admin costs.

YANBU!! Lately we keep our donations very local. The charity sector is a ££££ industry, sadly.

"Donators need to be very vigilant and do a lot of research and not take charities on face value"

So you are really just moaning? don't chase up the admin staff. They've got enough to do.

@PooWillyBumBum, no I didn't bother to chase up the secretary. I felt that if the charity could afford to ignore a 20k donation they weren't greatly in need!

I don't mind not being thanked from the charities I support as I wouldn't particularly want them spending extra money on that. I'm very careful who I support though - having worked for one large ( high profile ) charity recently and seeing how their money is wasted I am very reluctant to donate to them.

Go local is my advice.

In some ways it’s getting better as there’s often more budget to spend on developing relationships but it’s an uphill battle for many. They often work in silos so aren’t thinking as much about tangible bespoke responses so much as one size fits all.
Also post GDPR many are nervous about any contact at all if you haven’t specifically consented to it. Even though a lovely thank you note / call would make perfect sense in these situations.
The situation you described is bonkers though. I wonder if animal charities have more proactive gifts then other causes.

@AutumnRose1, I'm confused. In your first message you advise not to donate to large charities as staff are " probably very overloaded while directors go on "workshops" and spend a fucking fortune just on catering", and in a subsequent message you berate me for moaning and "chasing up admin staff who have enough to do".

Well, if they treated their donors with a bit of respect and courtesy they wouldn't have to spend so much time on fundraising and would have less work all round. I must say, you are no loss to the charity sector, lol.

Having worked with a few charities over the years, I can say YABVU.

Charities lately have been fulfilling basic state functions. Grant contracts each have their own very detailed reporting and accountability programmes, so you have these enormous reporting duties in addition to just trying to do the work you're commissioned to do. In the face of huge demand.

Yes donors should be thanked. But you have been thanked!

Transparency? The Charity Commission obligates charities to publish full accounts and board reprts every year. Have a look online.

Everyone I know who works for a charity works flat - out. That secretary you mention is likely trying to field new queries and generate qualitative and quantitative reports for grant contracts.

It's obnoxious when a private donor makes random demands of how the charity should be run, without bothering to ask how it fits in with the management plan. Why did you assume they'd be able to just implement your pet project?

If you want to get involved in governing the charity, apply to join the board.

If you believe in what they're doing, donate anonymously.

If you don't want to donate, don't.

We donate regularly to smaller local charities, plus one off donations for specific fundraisers. If I've dropped something off then a quick thank you in person is more than ample. For money transfers though, I don't really care if they even know my name, let alone want them to say thanks.

I get my thanks from seeing an online photo of a now healthy, happy animal, or an online update that a child got whatever it was they needed.

I thought all trusts required charities to fill in (often long) application forms for grants and report back on how the money was spent. You make it sound like you make unsolicited donations - is that right?

Sorry, ‘unsolicited’ may sound negative, it’s not meant to.

@sockypuppet, "That secretary you mention is likely trying to field new queries and generate qualitative and quantitative reports for grant contracts".
I'm not sure what all this gobblydegook means, but I was offering a `grant contract', if that is what you mean by a large donation?

Really, taking 10 minutes to write a personal email, or even in the case of a substantial donator, to pick up the phone is a win win. That is, you build up a relationship with the donor and ergo, the donor donates more cash.

Charities can spend a huge amount of time and effort organising a fundraiser that raises a small amount of money (though of course it may generate revenue in PR), but building client relationships is also important and doesn't have to take reams of time.

And as for your accusation that I was `making random demands about how a charity should be run', I was doing no such thing. I was offering a large amount of money to help them with elephant conservation and welfare - something they are already very active in doing.

Did you donate for the cause or for an ego stroke? That will answer whether you are BU.

I once had a donor who created a similar fuss. She donated £5000,got a simple but heartfelt thanks, then made a nuisance of herself, wanting to visit the charity, wanting to implement her pet projects, wanting to get involved with client work (vulnerable clients who didn't need that). We tried gently explaining to her that we were busy, but she'd given money so thought she owned us or something. When she finally stropped off we were relieved!

@kizzyWayfarer, yes, our donations are unsolicited as I don't want to burden charitable organisations with reams of pointless bureauracy.
I know one Trust that has 7 trustees and insists on charities sending hard copies of charity accounts to them all. Its' so wasteful and disrespectful of people's time, especially when this info is available online.

Well if you're genuinely concerned about how the secretary should be spending her time, then learn what all that "gobbledygook" means.

If you're not bothered, leave them the hell alone. Whether you donate or not.

‘When they send out their appeals (I get loads), it would be really helpful if they gave some info about governance - that is, how much is spent on admin, how much they pay their CEO. ’

apps.charitycommission.gov.uk/showcharity/registerofcharities/RegisterHomePage.aspx

Though I’d imagine charities would have to spend a lot more on admin if every donor wanted an extra special thank you thank and expected the charity to build a relationship with them

No, a "grant contract" is not a large donation. Though you seem to think it is.