How to Not Reactivate a Donor

Talk about a major screw-up. Not only did this e-mail confuse and irritate me — it also made me get my next oil change at a Meineke because I was so turned off by Jiffy Lube's laughably pathetic attempt to get me to come back.

Maybe it was a simple clerical mistake, but it was one that no company or nonprofit can afford to make.

The lesson, of course, is to never, ever make an error like this in your fundraising reactivation appeals, especially in today's landscape in which donors expect the organizations they support to know them. If you can't even get the person's name or last gift right, how on earth do you expect a donor to believe you will use his or her donations effectively?

At the extremely bare minimum, you have to personalize communications with the recipient's name and giving history, and most likely it will take a lot more.

Don't make the same mistake Jiffy Lube did. Otherwise, donors will be so offended that they'll simply give to someone else, much like I took my business elsewhere.