Dear Friends,

It’s been a while since I have blogged. Sometimes life gets in the way of doing the things we love…for example, writing this blog. I enjoy doing it, but I sometimes find it hard to make the time to write it.  Then, I think, well – people may miss it, but nothing critical will happen if I don’t write my blog.  So, I just put it out of my mind and don’t send out a blog for another week.

I think it is probably accurate to say that you’re not upset you haven’t heard from me… it is probably a case of out of sight, out of mind.  Really, the truth is probably that you’ve forgotten all about it because I haven’t made the effort to stay in your thoughts. However,  if I’m diligent and write again next week, and the next, and so on…then I will have rejoined many of your lives and you might even start looking forward to hearing from me again.  

 As I pondered this, I started thinking that this is probably exactly how a donor might feel. They liked hearing from you, and they thought there was a nice communication between you….then, bam! The communication stops.  Not intentionally, but it became very busy – the event is being planned, the appeal has to go out, there are a lot of meetings you have to attend.  And because you had nothing urgent to discuss with your donor, they didn’t hear from you.  They, on the other hand, have no idea why you aren’t communicating and you slip quietly out of their thoughts.  They are left with no explanation of why you aren’t communicating.  And, of course, nothing really happened – you just got busy. Totally understandable, isn’t it?

 Not really!  Even when there are no pressing issues to discuss with your donor, it is still important to keep the lines of communication open.  They want to know they are on your radar screen.  They appreciate those blogs, e-mails, short notes.  It doesn’t have to be personalized (though wouldn’t that be nice).  It just needs to be consistent and ongoing.

I promise to try harder to communicate with my readers on a more regular basis.  I know it’s important.  And I urge all of you to do the same with your donors. Don’t let donors quietly slip through the cracks.  Who knows where they may go – and they may never come back!