Recently I made a first-time donation to an organization and received a nice thank you letter.  The letter arrived in a timely manner and was more than just a "here's a record for your taxes." As a new donor I thought, "So far so good."  There was even a personal, handwritten note from the CEO.  Nice touch.

But, as I cleaned up the dregs of my mail-opening activities, I noticed that this organization had included a reply envelope in my thank you.  I had just made my first gift and part of their thank you was "please give more"?  Not so good.

Nonprofits must realize that feeling good about a charitable contribution is an important aspect of the donor experience.  Paul Schervish, in fact, goes so far as to say that donors do not give out of guilt (as many believe), but out of selfishness.  Giving, he says, is a "selfish" act that provides the donor with positive feelings. "I've done a good thing."  "I've helped someone else." "I've made a difference."  And these positive feelings are a vital part of the feedback loop that keeps donors engaged. 

An "ask" is not positive feedback--particularly in a thank you note.  The feedback I got was that my gift was not enough.  That asking is as important as thanking.  It subtracted from the feel-good experience of an otherwise sincere thank you.  I would not recommend this as a development strategy. 

And I'm curious--do nonprofits do this regularly?