Read time: 7 minutes
This one’s for anyone who’s ever sent a funding report 48 hours late and pretended it was a “draft.”
Receiving a donation is like being handed a tiny kitten – delightful, fragile, and absolutely your responsibility.
For some reason, many charities treat a gift as a trophy cabinet moment. They grab the cheque, polish it off, and declare victory. But they’re wrong. A donation isn’t the grand finale; it’s the first chapter of a new contract. That gift can lead directly to the next one and secure the one after that. Fail to properly manage this first step, and the relationship will vanish long before the next funding round even opens.
A donation isn’t the end of a long, arduous process; it’s the slightly awkward start of a relationship that needs careful tending. If you want to stop this lovely person (or Trust) from deciding you’re a flighty, unprofessional mess, you need a plan. And it starts with a phone call.
The Novelty of the Human Voice
I know what you’re thinking: “A phone call? In this economy?” Yes. A phone call.
The goal here is three-fold, and it’s the simplest way to prove you’re not a robotic, faceless institution:
- Genuine Thanks: You need to say thank you immediately and personally.
- Basic Admin: You need to confirm you know how to process their money and that you haven’t lost their details.
- Future Planning: You need to politely, but firmly, agree on what happens next.
Not to ask for anything – just to say thanks, confirm the details, and show you’re awake.
For smaller charities, a quick call is standard. But if you’re a larger organisation receiving a modest-but-meaningful gift (say, £500), that personal touch is shocking. Donors expect to be a drop in the ocean; you make them feel like a tidal wave.
Pick up the phone and say something that sounds like a human wrote it:
“I just wanted to call quickly and confirm your very kind donation landed safely. We’re sending a letter of thanks, but honestly, you’ve absolutely made our day here on the team working on [Project Name]. Thank you – it genuinely makes a difference to the people we support.”
It takes sixty seconds. It’s warm, it’s immediate, and it tells them you value their support, not just their bank details.
What if there’s no phone? If you don’t have a number, or it’s a landline and you can’t reach anyone, then the very least you can do is send an immediate, personal email – not the automated kind. Tell them the money landed and that you’re thrilled.
Top Tip (The “Look, We Tried” Video)
If you’ve been talking to someone with a mobile number, a swift, personal video is the new gold standard. Get a short, 30-second message from someone close to the action – a delivery team member, a beneficiary (with permission, obviously), or even just a very enthusiastic staff member.
Keep it unpolished but permissioned — no moody filters, no violins. Just real faces saying thanks.
It’s the least stressful, most personal way to say, “Thanks for not being rubbish.”
Pre-Acceptance: The Grown-Up Bits
Before you cash the cheque, remember: not every donation is a blessing. There are two crucial checks – especially for larger or private donations.
Gift Acceptance Policy: Does the donation trigger any internal warnings? Are there conditions attached? Does it conflict with your mission? You must check your organisation’s own rules before formally accepting the cash.
Basic Due Diligence: Who are they, exactly? If it’s a Trust, you’re fine. If it’s a private company you’ve never heard of, a quick public check is sensible. You don’t want to receive a large gift from a questionable source and then have to deal with the inevitable PR fallout.
Use the phone call to confirm that you’ve received the money subject to these checks. This shows you’re a responsible organisation.
The Core 40: Avoiding Self-Inflicted Stupidity
In keeping with our house theme, the Core 40 is what happens when smart people make dumb admin choices. And one of the biggest items on that list is administrative laziness after a grant is approved.
When the funder sends over their paperwork, they often include bank transfer details, specific reporting forms, and due dates. You have two options:
- Be a Muppet: File the email somewhere deep in a subfolder and assume you’ll remember the details in a year’s time.
- Be a Professional: Use the phone call (or follow-up email) to confirm you’ve seen the instructions, confirm when you’ll send the reply email with any documents they need, and immediately log the reporting deadline in your calendar.
Mentioning the phone chat in your follow-up – “Following up on our call, here are the completed documents…” – is a lovely, small way to reinforce that you are a cohesive, switched-on operation. It’s a low-effort move that provides high-level confidence.- “Following up on our call, here are the completed documents…” – is a lovely, small way to reinforce that you are a cohesive, switched-on operation. It’s a low-effort move that provides high-level confidence.
The Reporting Promise (Keep It!)
This is where the relationship is either cemented or set alight and pushed off a cliff.
The golden rule: When you take money, you accept the obligation to report back.
If the donor is specific (e.g., a Trust with a mandatory online form in 18 months), you’re set. If they aren’t specific, you must still send a simple, well-written report within 12 months. It should answer two questions:
- What did you spend the money on? (Be specific.)
- What was the difference? (Show the impact, don’t just list activities. If you need a refresher on this, go read Measuring What Matters: Impact Frameworks for Small Community Organisations.)
You’d be horrified by the number of charities that fail to meet this basic requirement. Funders share this information, and being known as “the charity that takes the money and runs” is a death sentence. Budget the time, write the report, and send it with pride.
The Difference Between Doing vs. Delivering
To really hit home and secure that next gift, you must stop reporting what you did and start reporting what you delivered.
The Muppet Report (What You Did):
“We held 42 workshops and paid for three months of rent. We bought a new laptop.”
The Professional Report (What You Delivered):
“The funds allowed us to support 15 unemployed parents through 42 structured workshops, leading to 8 individuals securing full-time jobs. This investment didn’t just cover rent; it purchased a secure, consistent space where our clients could focus on building their future.”
See the difference? One is a shopping list; the other is a transformation story. Funders don’t give money for you to buy things; they give money for you to change things. Show them the change.se cheques keep arriving. Don’t be a part of the Core 40.
A donation is an investment in your work. The phone call and the report are your dividends. Treat the process with the respect it deserves, and you’ll find those cheques keep arriving.
Look after your kittens — feed them reports, phone calls, and the occasional thank-you video — and they’ll grow into fully funded cats.
The Art of Stupidity 