# Donor care to donor despair

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2007/09/07/donor-care-donor-despair/
- Published: 2007-09-07T18:04:43+01:00
- Author: Howard Lake

**Following my holiday, this week I have been absorbed by the latest report from
nfpSynergy, [_The 21st Century Donor_](https://nfpsynergy.net/21st-century-donor),
which is available for free download from their website.**

It is a fascinating and thought provoking read and while much confirms the assumptions
and conclusions that many fundraisers already hold, there is also much there to 
challenge many of our accepted norms both large and small. For example, competition
amongst charities being largely irrelevant to donors, why the idea of merging similar
causes is peculiar, the internet as a reactive not proactive tool for fundraisers,
and the be all and end all of donor choice is not about opting in and out of mailings.

Amongst the many gems of opinion and assertion it contains, I particularly loved
the analogy of how much of our supporter care within the sector is the equivalent
to that which you might have received in a 1950s seaside B&B.

## Advertisement

This was particularly relevant to me as we are currently in the middle of a Supporter
Care Mystery Shopping exercise, but one, which we believe, offers a new approach
to this often very basic measurement of service.

Sadly, the initial results have been predictably disappointing – the worst being
one organisation that would not take a telephone donation from us because the person
who handled them was in a meeting. Rather disapprovingly, we were told to call back
tomorrow and then they hung up.

No name, no amount, no engagement, no thanks, no effort. Sadly, it seems that 50s
seaside B&B is alive and flourishing.

 * **[Attention on Retention](https://fundraising.co.uk/2007/12/17/attention-retention-0/)**(
   17 December 2007)
 * **[Retention Song – the fundraiser’s anthem](https://fundraising.co.uk/2012/11/20/retention-song-fundraiser039s-anthem/)**(
   20 November 2012)
 * **[Charlie Hulme appointed MD of DonorVoice in the UK](https://fundraising.co.uk/2014/02/12/charlie-hulme-appointed-md-donorvoice-uk/)**(
   12 February 2014)