We are considering not recognizing every gift based upon data entry. In January alone we had 1545 gifts and one gift processor. The amount of time taken to put in the gift and produce the acknowledgement letter may not prove good business sense. We also realize that most of our money comes from a small % of donors. Any thoughts on this? I realize many organizations use acknowledgement as their sourse of solicitation; however, this really does not seem to be the case here. Any thoughts?

Wow, that's a lot of gifts for one month! Your data entry person sounds very busy. I would hesitate about not thanking a donor no matter what the git amount. Is there any way to streamline the internal acknowledgement process? I might suggest: 1) sending some type of pre-printed, pre-signed postcard (less postage too) to smaller gift donors or 2) do you utilize conditional mail merges? Could you save money by sending the letters bulk? Granted, not as timely, but more cost effective. Also, we've never used an acknowlegement letter as a source of solicitation. Rebecca Schafer
Big Brothers Big Sisters Indianapolis, IN
[Email Removed]

I would not suggest not acknowledging gift but I agree that a simple postcard receipt or something may be more efficient for the smaller gifts. I agree that that is a large amount for one person in a month and you may need to consider that to do the job properly you need more FTEs (even if temporary during busy campaigns). Never underestimate the value in acknowledging the $10 donor who gives every year and later bequests 1/2 million to you because you were always so nice and appreciative of their gifts. Melissa S. Graves Manager, Development Database & Direct Mail Planned Parenthood of Connecticut [Email Removed] 203-752-2804 *** Sorry my spelling stinks!

I, too, agree with Melissa. I feel it is very important to acknowledge each gift with a thank you. I am the only person that enters gifts within our office and we have anywhere from 1,000 to 3,000 gifts per month depending upon the time of year and events that are taking place. With using the batch processing, I have not had difficulty keeping up with the gift entry along with the letters through the mail module. We use our acknowledgements not for the purpose of solicitation, but to show our gratitude. You may want to consider a thank you with a monthly gift statement for each constiutent. I personally would have difficulty with a postcard for the reason of confidentiality.

Most of our planned gifts (bequests and cga donations) are from those small donors. They kept us in their thoughts and remembered us with continued small gifts because they were thanked. Even the small dollar donor wants to know that their gift makes a difference and that is what the acknowledgement can do. I would think twice before NOT sending acknowledgements. We have developed a streamlined process using RE Batch for our volunteers and temporary workers that can be managed by our FTE and it has allowed us to handle heavy volumes. Using Mail Merge allows us to have a normal turnaround on our letters of 10 business days. Donna Marie Foos Data Base Administrator American Red Cross of Southeastern Virginia 611 West Brambleton Avenue Norfolk, Virginia 23510 757.446.7382 [Email Removed]

I think that you absolutely need to acknowledge your donor's gift no matter what the contribution and your resources. Donations are a tax right off and people need that paperwork if they decide to include the donation when they do their taxes. Also, I agree with everyone else, you need to let them know that you are appreciative of their support. We don't use acknowledgements as a source of solicitation either. Maybe you could hire an part-time intern or volunteer(free of charge) to help out.

Technically I believe you are not 'required' to receipt a gift unless it is over $250 or if the donor requests one. Under $250 however, best practices have shown that the relationship benefit of thanking donors for gifts is critical to maintain these smaller donors and steward them into larger donors - even planned gift donors. And even if these donors never give larger gifts it is a basic public relations piece to be appreciative of every gift. Melissa S. Graves Manager, Development Database & Direct Mail Planned Parenthood of Connecticut [Email Removed] 203-752-2804 *** Sorry my spelling stinks!

We process more than 3,000 gifts a month, however we have a large base of employee gifts. I would be curious to know how many of those gifts are recurring? We do not send "thank you" notes to our employees/staff who are doing recurring payroll deductions after their first initial gift. We do thank them for their first recurring gift. It's very easy to set up a merge letter to thank the donors and extremely important on getting them to re-up their gift next time.

I would definately acknowledge every donor EXCEPT people who sponsor another at a "thon" event. I have asked my committees and they've all said it is up to the participant to thank their own donors. We do send letters to event donors of $250 or more. Also, regarding a prior comment, you can't send things by post card for confidentiality reasons.

There is no reason not to use post cards as an acceptable form of a gift acknowledgement.  In fact, the IRS specifically mentions post cards in IRS publication 1771 as an acceptable form of an acknowledgement.

If your organization chooses to not use post cards per your own confidentiality policy - that is something altogether different.