The lost art of saying thank you
Howard Lake | 9 July 2007 | Blogs
Last week I had the pleasure of speaking at the Institute of Fundraising’s Northern Ireland Convention. As always, I was looked after marvellously well by the organisers and after my sessions were over, I was lucky enough to attend the closing plenary by Barbara McNarry.
She is an unassuming, quiet woman, but one of the most inspiring I have come across in a long, long while.
Probably as for many others, the name was not familiar to me, but Barbara is George Best’s sister and after his death, she decided to set up a charity (the George Best Foundation) to research liver disease and alcoholism, as well as promote healthy lifestyles through football.
Doubtless, many of you will have seen the huge outpouring of grief, tributes, and testimonies following George’s death and when people knew of Barbara’s plans they began to write to her – many enclosing cheques – in support of the charity. In fact, thousands and thousands of people wrote to her.
And here is the remarkable bit.
Even though she had a full time job and was just setting up the charity in her spare time, Barbara McNarry (together with some friends and family) made the time to hand write responses to every single communication they received.
Night after night, after doing a days work, they wrote responses until the early hours. When asked why, she simply said that these people had taken the trouble and effort to write to her – it was the least they deserved in response.
Thousands and thousands of hand written acknowledgements, all as personal as it is possible to get. And guess what, lots and lots of these people then wrote again – sending more money to support the work of the Foundation.
Sitting listening, I was so impressed by this unassuming woman who just wanted to say thank you in the right way, because instinctively she knew it was the proper thing to do.
Many times I hear people tell me that they cannot deliver the personal level of service that they would like to because of the volumes that are involved, or because of the lack of time they have, or the lack of resources, or so many other similar variations on a theme.
Next time we think we can’t do something, it is perhaps worth considering whether Barbara McNarry could do it…
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.