My Name Is Not Donor

Nicole54 by Ally Aubry

My name is not donor, the mythical ghost in the machine you are targeting.

You don’t know my name. Why? Because it’s some random field in your house file. A random Bob, a misplaced Jane in a sea of Johns, Alices, Michaels and Jennifers.

Really, you don’t care about me. I know this. I can tell when I receive all of your “communications,” your solicitations, your ceaseless asks. Invariably, it’s always about money.

I get it. It’s the “donor acquisition” strategy. And because I didn’t “give enough,” the level of outreach is impersonal. You can’t invest in me.

I’ve got bad news for you. I don’t want to invest in you either. It doesn’t make me feel good. You don’t treat me like a valuable person, an individual. You don’t report results back to me. You don’t remember what I have done, and you don’t provide extra value or access in my life.

What you don’t know is I give thousands of dollars every year to more than a dozen charities. I have raised another $9,000 on average per year for the last three years.

But you wouldn’t know that. Because I am just a cheap donor to you. Maybe if you spam me enough I’ll bite.

Ha! We both know that won’t happen.

That’s because my name is not donor.