(Chuck Muth) – Nobody has been harder on the United States Post Office than I’ve been over the last twenty years or so; however, there IS a lot to be said for the virtues of snail-mail these days…especially when it comes to communicating with your donors.
I have a folder in my desk where I've saved certain thank-you cards and letters. They’re just so personal and so out-of-the-ordinary. And meaningful.
There's a HAND-WRITTEN greeting card from my Dad following up on a certain “meaning of life” conversation the two of us had years ago.
And I kept the HAND-WRITTEN card Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid sent me after we bumped into each other on an airplane from Phoenix to Las Vegas.
And there’s a HAND-WRITTEN card from Sharron Angle thanking me for a donation I made early to her campaign.
But my favorite is a HAND-WRITTEN personal one-page letter – IN CURSIVE! – from the late Nevada State Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio that dates all the way back to June 3, 2008!
Again, none of these were standard-issue form letters. They were all hand-written and personal. Truly personal; not “mail-merge” personal.
And they must have meant *something* special to me, even if on an unconscious level, because, well, I saved them.
Folks, do NOT underestimate the value and power of communicating with your donors and your constituents – as Smith Barney (ask your mom) would say – the “old-fashioned way.”
Until next time. Onward and rightward…
Dr. Chuck Muth, PsD
Professor of Psephology (homeschooled)
“How to Get More Votes, More Donors & More Volunteers”