“How many thousands of dollars does it take to be treated as an individual?”

That’s what I uncharitably thought when I opened the annual late fall letter from Agency X, which I have supported with thousands of dollars in personal and memorial gifts over the past three years.  Worse yet, key executives and officers in the organization know me and have involved me in service to the organization beyond my financial gifts.

The letter was a mass mailed form letter sent via first class mail to current and past donors.  It was addressed in the plural.  “Dear Friends of…” it began. 

Why do writers of mass mailings forget that one person reads their letters at a time, generally in solitude?  A “Dear Friends” salutation is appropriate only for donors with multiple personalities, or for those couples whose compulsive togetherness actually propels them to read their M/M addressed mail to each other.

 It’s the Twenty First Century.  Use your computers!  Address mail to donors, prospective donors, volunteers, everyone as the individuals we are.  You want me to take the time to write a check?  Then take the time to engage my attention and interest.

-- Len Iaquinta