I work at an organization where we receive many 'in memory of' and 'in honor of' tribute gifts.  Many times, the donor will request that acknowledgement be sent to the family.  Othertimes, there is no request.  I have a few questions:

1- Should we send donation notification to the families even when the donor makes no specific request (we either have to look up the family's address or we already have it)?

2- Many times we have families who ask for a list of names and addresses of donors to than them.  Is this something that other organizations give out?  My understanding is that donor information is confidential (addresses, donation amount, etc).  I never felt comfortable giving out donor information to anyone other than the donor.  My organization does not have a set policy on this and it seems to go on a case-by-case basis.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Good morning, Fatima

 My organization does more than $90,000 in tributes and memorials so our program is well-honed.  So, I'll let you know how we do it and wish you lots of luck:

 1.  We tell the family only if we were mentioned in the obit or the party invitation (for in honor of anniversary) or if the donor specifically requested that they be notified.  We never, ever tell the family what the amount was.  Only the donor's name and address.  If the donor requests that they be anonymous, we will tell the family that we received a gift from a friend who wishes to remain anonymous, no amount.

2.  Sometimes, we will do a list for the family especially if they are doing thank you cards, but again, it never mentions the amount and never mentions any donor information if they have requested to be anonymous.

Your best bet is to follow donor intent to the best of your abilities.  If there is any question, don't give out the info.  We have over the years gotten very good about putting anonymous check boxes on envelopes, forms and the website to give the donor the opportunity to say "no, I don't want the family to know I did this."

Fatima,

We follow the same procedures as those mentioned by Melissa.

Hi Frank,

1- Should we send donation notification to the families even when the donor makes no specific request (we either have to look up the family's address or we already have it)? - I think you should come up a policy.

Our organization still send out notificant letters to family members (whoever in the database) for regular tribute gifts.  For special event program call LUAL, we only send out notificant letter per donor requests.

2- Many times we have families who ask for a list of names and addresses of donors to than them.  Is this something that other organizations give out?  My understanding is that donor information is confidential (addresses, donation amount, etc).  I never felt comfortable giving out donor information to anyone other than the donor.  My organization does not have a set policy on this and it seems to go on a case-by-case basis.

If there is a written request from specific member of the family, I would say yes, because they want to thank their friends, and relatives, have your manager approve first before you send out the list.  (you can provide donor name, city and state but it doesn't need to be full address)

I agreed with Melissa,

absolutely don't let family know $$$ only donor name and address and donor who wishs to stay anonymous

Hi Melissa,

How do you handle weir tribute name in database?  For example: my super and fabulous donor? or my father's friend? or staff and ER doctors?

Scenario 1:

$50 in memory of "my best friend" - family to notify

Scenario 2:

$50 in memory of "my best friend" - notify her sister name and address only - no contact info.

 I am really appreciating all your input.  Thanks Melissa  

Any time we have a way to contact the person being tributed or the family of a memorial we will send notification even without being asked.  They should be told. If we do not already have it we would ask the donor rather than look it up ourselves because we do not want to find the wrong person.

We do share the name and address of the donors (but not amount) unless the donor requested to remain anonymous.