Yuck, that sounds onerous. What about merging all the letters with their
contact's signature on it (the board member) and asking the Board member to
sign the letters. Then if they don't think you should send them an appeal,
they can pull the letter. They can also make personal notes on the letters.
Besides, the personal connection is the most valuable part. If the board
member who actually knows the potential donor signs the letter, you have a
better chance of getting them to donate.

With us, once a name is in the database, we send them appeals regularly.
Period. It sounds like your board doesn't understand that they are limiting
your ability to raise funds rather than increasing it.

Good luck!
Erica

Erica S. Maniez
Museum Director, Issaquah Historical Society
425/392-3500
[log in to unmask]
www.issaquahhistory.org

  -----Original Message-----
  From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On
Behalf Of Melinda Kaufman
  Sent: Monday, November 24, 2003 11:17 AM
  To: [log in to unmask]
  Subject: Question for fundraising people


  Hi all,

  I have a question that relates to fundraising.

  I am sure that many of you get lists of people to solicit from your board
members. Here is the question: Do you ask your board members each time you
send a solicitation if it is ok to solicit those people? I have a very small
donor database, that is almost completely made up of friends of board
members.  Every time we send a solicitation letter (twice a year) I have to
show every board member their current list, and often end up removing a
large number of names from my database, rather than adding more. It is VERY
time consuming, and even more frustrating.

  I am curious how this works in other organizations. If anyone is willing
to share, I would appreciate it!

  Thanks,

  Melinda Kaufman
  [log in to unmask]

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