With apologies to email

I've had a very big change of heart.


I use to be very down on email as a means of reaching out to donors, or for any means of respectful communication for that matter. I have relied on good, old-fashioned letters for "real" communication. I still believe that writing letters to donors and prospects is dignified, effective and -frankly- impressive. 

But lately, I've come to owe a number of breakthroughs to email. Too many to ignore. In many cases, the prospect himself asked that email be the principal method of contact at all stages of the game--even solicitation.


I have learned that the dime-a-dozen cheapness of an email brings a certain strength to prospecting. On the one hand, we have a means of speaking tzum zakh to a prospect on his terms--whenever he makes time to sift through his own inbox (as opposed to ambushing him in his office or trying incessantly to connect over the phone). Really, with a growing ratio of our daily communication having become cheap and instant (a la facebook pokes, tweets, and the like) email is no longer as grob as it use to be.


I have learned that email offers the opportunity to get a succinct message across to the donor (it does demand that your subject line and message have a strong khap). If you hit, great! If you miss, he clicks delete, and you're gone--no embarassment or hard feelings (you garment district collectors know exactly what I'm talking about). This of course, give you the opportunity to follow up, deal with objections, or just wish him well.


One of my newer clients confided that he has never met, or even spoken to, one of his principal donors. He initiated the relationship via email and their relationship has persisted over weeks and months, resulting in an important gift to the organization.


Yes, there are a few too many breakthroughs out there to ignore. And many more, I expect, to come.