the other side of the fence

I have been working on a response to Stephanie building on her comments about social networking and how we can use some of the readily available tools as part of the efforts to build a community that supports each of our causes. In doing so, I spent some time working on creating and maintaining a group on LinkedIn, Online Fundraising Exchange (if you are on LinkedIn, find me and join the group) to learn more about how parts of that environment work.

I sat down tonight to put the ideas together and checked my email as is my habit in the early part of the evening. I had three messages (a clear sign that many of the folks that I work with are already relaxing for the holiday), 1 confirming the shipment of a Christmas present for my wife, 1 from LinkedIn telling me that a colleague had accepted my invitation to connect and 1 from my Alma Mater, Allegheny College.

I have given to Allegheny every year since I graduated - more than a decade of annual gifts. The total dollar value of those gifts is modest to say the least but I am a consistent and easy donor to work with. I give the same way every year, as the result of a fiscal year end mailing that I cross over into an online gift. The piece that they sent was the first non-online community piece that I had seen from them this fall. I get a monthly email from their online community telling me about the classnotes that have been submitted from folks the year ahead and year behind me so am accustomed to seeing email from the college.

What struck me as unique about this email right away was the look - a picture - more like a postcard than an email. While it was picture of the campus, it was not an area that I would have chosen as a signature location on campus and it used a merge area looking kind of like a name plate for a donor recognition plaque to personalize it. While I appreciate the effort to personalize the piece, I was a bit dismayed that it looked more like a mailing label stuck to the picture than a smooth digital merge field.

The flash portion of the piece that it linked me to played smoothly with nice controls (watch it here: Allegheny College - post your thoughts on the piece please!) and was relevant to me - the images all have meaning and it clearly comes from folks at the school that have a good grasp on what makes the College unique. That said, I was disappointed in how it left me feeling - distant. I felt like I was watching an admissions video more than an appeal for my support. It did not connect me to folks in a personal fashion, did not provide me with any opportunity to connect to other alumni or communicate with the College, it simply ended with a completed form including my name and address along with a suggested gift of $50. Since I just spoke with the phonathon caller who asked me for $100, I thought that was an interesting amount - have an email in to the annual giving folks there to ask what the thought was behind that.

Reflecting on what was wrong about the piece, I come up with the following thought; I expect more from online communications that telling me what is happening. I have become accustomed to the interaction of the social networking tools - I want to be able to post and hear back from friends and connections right now, I want to be given the opportunity to read those classnotes and comment back to the note writer, I want control of the content of what I see and when I see it. I was disappointed that rather than playing on the communication they are already providing, I was sent a one way communication that reads as "old" media - no matter how well done, it missed the target completely.

Stephanie and I were talking this afternoon prior to this email and the subject of continuity came up - how many years of working with a client does it take to provide consistent results, her response: 3 or more. I thought that was striking comment and even more so in light of my reaction to this solicitation piece. Striking but not surprising - my expectations were set by the monthly communication that I am already getting. If the email had linked me to a microsite and asked me for my unique experience that would be shared with others, I would probably have ended with a gift - give me the chance to share and be shared with - continue the work that is going on rather than changing directions when you want to solicit me and success will follow.

I will get back to work on my social networking post and get that up for our return to work on Monday the 30th - Happy Thanksgiving to all!