I recently received a direct mail appeal from a local non-profit organization (which shall remain nameless) with whom I’ve had a relationship since May 1984. The image above is a scan of the exact address as it appeared on the envelope containing the Appeal letter.
Are you kidding me??????
Let me make 2 things clear from the beginning:
- Yes, they have the Raiser’s Edge!
- No, they are NOT a Leading Edge client (though obviously they could benefit from being one)!
I never cease to be amazed……..
Addressees and Salutations are one of the most powerful and basic functionalities in the Raiser’s Edge. How can an organization of this size and caliber, that has this world class software, allow this to happen? Is no one checking these things before they go out? Don’t they realize what a black eye this kind of mistake gives the organization?
I am seriously rethinking my Annual Fund gift this year.
Don’t they know how easily avoidable it is? Issues like this are why organizations buy the Raiser’s Edge in the first place!
On the bright side, at least we know they’re populating almost all of the name fields on the Bio1 (Nickname, Title 1, First Name, Middle Name, Last Name). If they were fully up to speed and connected with me on LinkedIn, they would have included bCRE as a suffix! 🙂
Please share what procedures your organization has in place before an Appeal like this is mailed. Who checks the file for accuracy and appropriateness? The person(s) who sign(s) it? The database administrator? The mailing house?
Whose responsibility is it?
Keeping you on the Leading Edge,
Blackbaud Certified Raiser’s Edge Professional
PS I’m thinking of opening a mailing house in Charleston; what do you think? 😉
