If Carling wrote thank you letters…

‘Signage, Oxfam Walk, ‘69’

There are so many ways in which this is a brilliant thank-you letter after a first gift. Here, I’m going to focus on just two.

Nearly half the letter – highlighted below – is taken up with a section that starts, “I think you will be interested to hear that last month we…”, and then oodles of granular detail: seeds and fruit tree saplings; Africa and Latin America; centres and colleges.

Then, the now ubiquitous, “It is only through the continued support of people like yourselves…”. But followed up with, “…that we can commit ourselves…”.

Of course, I’m, “interested to know”. If this is what you did last month, I can be sure you’ll use my gift for something equally transformative next month.

Let me cut to the chase. 

How many charities do you know that change their core thank-you letter every month? In order fully to engage with their donors? To bring them into the minute detail of the charity’s actual day-to day work? In real time? 

Why, with advances in technology, could we do this so well 60 years ago, but today can’t be bothered?

In the relationship between the donor and the cause, we need to get the organisation out of the way. You may think that donors give to your charity, but who ever gave money to the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief. What could be a worse word in your charity’s name than ‘committee’ ?

Enough. This is far-and-away the most significant point in this analysis. 

I’d like to move on to asking for support.

One, household name, charity I support sent me an appeal very shortly after my first gift. [And they are far from the worst.] Throughout the text, three asks for money, all in highlighted bold. They couldn’t have been more prominent.

• ‘Donate £30 to our Christmas Appeal.’

• ‘Donate to support more community-centred partnerships.’

• ‘Yes, I’ll give £30 today.’

It’s pretty clear what they wanted from me. And, any fundraiser can tell that every word was deliberate, and carefully crafted. Probably (possibly) well tested, and shown to ‘work’.

But look at the ‘ask’ in the letter to me. I fell for it hook line and sinker. I still believe it’s totally brilliant. 

“…whenever you and your friends find yourselves in Oxford.” 

When would I and my friends ever ‘find ourselves’ in Oxford, for goodness’ sake?

“Perhaps you could write and suggest a day.” So that they could smother us with even more thanks? What purpose would that serve? 

Or, to aim to take the relationship to the next level?

OK, so the words probably won’t have been carefully crafted to make this ‘ask’ so powerful. Indeed, the very term ‘ask’ won’t have even entered the fundraiser’s lexicon for a couple of decades yet. And, truly, I do realise that I’m comparing chalk and cheese.

But doesn’t it indicate a mindset in the person who wrote this part of the letter?

Why, in 60 years, haven’t we used technology ruthlessly to make communications more personal? Rather than using it to make communications less personal? “Thank you from the Save the Giraffes team.”

Do you think all of this is archaic in 2024? Or might there be something here to think about?

Are we asking with more and more ‘push’, to gain ground over our competitors? Or might there be room for a softer ‘pull’?

“…whenever you and your friends find yourselves in Oxford.” 

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