Enough with the 'thank yous' please: Where charities get it wrong.

Have you been thanked by your charity lately? In my last call from one of the charities we support, I certainly was.  Not once, but numerous times.

As of late it seems, many charities think they have discovered a magical power in saying thank you to donors.  In the course of our pro bono work we have come across this quite a few times where other consultants advise them to emphasise to the donor how important their support is. This mostly seems to translate into constantly saying thank you.  On the face of it, it seems obvious; you know treat others how you want to be treated etc. 

Charities, in their effort to attract the most donors and dollars easily buy into this misleading advice.  They think it makes make donors feel more valued, gives them a better supporter experience and increases loyalty and donations.

But for the vast majority of supporters it falls on deaf ears or even backfires.   To a great number the thank yous show that charities don’t really understand them or what motivates them to give.

In fact, our needs modelling data shows that only about 1/3 of people who support charities seek external appreciation for it.   Among child sponsors this falls even further to just 25%.  And of those, a good number don’t want appreciation from their chosen charity, but from family, friends, colleagues and local community.

Many of them feel that the charity is only the facilitator or conduit of their own goodwill. Therefore, they feel that the charity thanking them (even on behalf of the beneficiaries) is misplaced and presumptive, misunderstanding its role.  Others feel that the simple act of giving money doesn't warrant excessive gratitude and find it embarrassing.

Increasing the focus on supporter experience is laudable and for that I congratulate the charities. However, the trick to improving supporter experience is to understand what motivates the different supporter segments and create mechanisms that encourage and reward them.  Or simply, what kind of supporter experience they want to have.

Saying thank you, as a blanket solution, is counterproductive to increasing donor support.

Mext has researched charity needs with the public, HNWIs and corporates for the last 8 years. This is done with HuNeeds®, the powerful needs modelling approach based on the most modern psychology. The needs modelling approach shows 6 distinctive segments that are driven by well-defined needs. The HuNeeds Model is the basis for supporter experience development, positioning, value proposition & product development.

If you would like to know more about these results and what it could mean for you organisation, please contact melissa.wraith@mextconsulting.com