As fundraisers, we have often grappled with how to appropriately thank our donors who so willingly give to the University. Should we give a gift, or should we focus on crafting a sincere thank-you letter, create a short video to share with the donor, go public with a social media message or pick up the telephone for a personal call to show our donors our appreciation?

A recent survey that was published in the Journal of Economic Psychology (The counterintuitive effects of thank-you gifts on charitable giving) suggests that giving donors a thank-you gift actually reduces philanthropic donations.

What are we to do then? There are several problems with giving gifts to major and planned gift donors:

• The gift itself usually has nothing to do with the cause. If, for example, a symphony orchestra gives away a CD of the music that the orchestra plays, you could argue that it does relate to the cause. Maybe, but most gifts have little to do with the cause. 

• However, if there is a connection, even the slightest, the cost of the gift brings up questions, such as, “Why not just use that money for the cause?” The retort is often that the nonprofit had the gift sponsored, so there is no cost. But what if the sponsoring company was encouraged to give cash instead of the sponsored gift? Is it a lost opportunity to raise money? Who knows. 

• A gift replaces the work that needs to be done. To me, this is the most serious consequence of gift giving in fundraising. The most valuable exchange in major gift fundraising is that the donors derive satisfaction and fulfilment from giving a gift that makes something actually happen on the planet that they deeply care about. You can tweet it, Instagram it and sing the donor’s praises! There is no better return on investment for a donor than this. If you, as the major gift fundraiser, do not invest the time to determine our donors’ passions and interests and ways that our university can solicit their donation because you are so busy figuring out the gift issue and if that is the focus of your time and energy, it is misplaced and ineffective. A gift can never provide that kind of satisfaction and fulfilment. Never.

I think that we should consider all of this carefully the next time we want to give a gift or we have a programme at our university that is based on gift giving (such as trinkets, scarfs, books, CD sets, and discounts at retail stores and restaurants, all aimed at encouraging donors to donate). Think about the donor and what would give him or her the greatest satisfaction. That answer should guide our actions and our focus.

• Would you like to share your thoughts? Feel free to do so with Karen at kbruns@sun.ac.za.