I’m certain the U.S. 2020 Election won’t stop on November 4^th. But I am hopeful that the torrent of urgent emails, urgent text messages and urgent phone calls will at least decrease to a garden hose flow, as opposed to a fire hose flood.

A necessary part of this year’s process has been the flood of appeals from candidates, their parties, and independent political committees seeking financial and voter support.  Because digital messaging is so inexpensive and digital lists so widely shared (see Agitator post here) there has been an endless barrage of breathless email and text appeals assuring me that “Texas is leaning Dem” …” Texas is lost.” …. “U.S. Senate About to Flip” …” GOP Senate Control is Safe” …and on and on for hundreds of races ranging from the Presidency to Congress down through state legislative contests.

When my eyesight and nerve endings recover, I’ll try to review some of best and worst of these (mostly they’re awful!) with special focus on the particularly horrific abuses.  For example, the 700 X Match and “We’re out of money and packing our suitcase” variety.

Add to all this the Twitter Scroll of Political Doom and you’ll understand why relief can’t come soon enough (although the calendar reminds me that the GivingTuesday onslaught will soon be upon us.)

Through the course of the campaign I made lots of contributions to lots of candidates and committees.  With the exception of one Congressional candidate I received not a single thank you beyond the usual autoresponder.  One personally addressed, personalized letter in an envelope, with a stamp out of scores of contributions.

I understand that campaigns are under-resourced, time is short, funds tight and all that.  But even the deeper pocketed Presidential and Senate campaigns didn’t bother to thank me for my gifts, let alone remind me how much more I could give before I reached the giving limit of $2800 for that candidate.  Lots of fundraising malpractice out there in Campaignland.

Fortunately, as I began hitting the delete button on last week’s emails I came across this story in Inc. magazine.  A magnificent lesson—by analogy– on how to treat donors well and build relationships by showing gratitude—in personal and unexpected ways.

At the end of his flight to LaGuardia on Delta Airlines the author was handed a handwritten, thank you note as the plane approached the gate. Here’s how he described it: “The note was simple, but honestly, what it said was far less significant than the fact that it was personalized and handwritten. Maybe it’s just because there are fewer people traveling right now, so the crew had the time to do something like this, but I think there’s more to it.

“Of course, right now, when you might be serving fewer customers is exactly the time you should be extending a personal touch. Those customers are the ones that have stuck with you despite the fact that there’s a pandemic upsetting almost every part of our lives.

“By the way, I have strong feelings about handwritten notes for a few reasons. The first is that almost no one actually uses them anymore. It’s very rare that someone sits down with paper and ink, puts it in an envelope with a stamp, and addresses it to you. Instead, they’re far more likely to send a text message or an email because it’s simply more convenient. [Emphasis added.]

“Which is really the problem. When you choose the more convenient message, you send a subtle message about what’s really important.

“When someone takes the time to write something by hand, it says far more than had they sent an email or simply signed a pre-printed card. It communicates that you care. Why else would you sit down with a pen and paper and go through the effort of writing down a few words?

It’s easy to underestimate how important this is right now. Every time you interact with a customer you have an opportunity to reinforce your values and build the relationship. At a time when personal connections are more than a bit strained, every effort you make to reach out to your customers–or anyone, for that matter–is a big deal.”

Lisa Sargent would be so proud.

As we turn our attention from the elections of 2020 and back to the pandemic,  year-end giving, and our donors let’s not forget the power of personal connections to build relationships.

Roger