News & Insight

7th July 2015

Deadline to give – a step too far?

I love the National Trust. We’ve been family members for as long as I can remember.

The direct marketing is usually good. The latest message included an ask. I was wondering when they’d finally get round to it.  But the ask included a deadline: make your gift before. It looks like the final demand from an utility company.

The reference to the particular National Trust property is fine too (they know where we have lingered and can assume that we are committed to the cause).

There is a planning deadline and it’s imminent – next month in fact.

I wondered about the wisdom of plastering a big ‘deadline’ stamp across the letter?

What do you think of gift deadlines?

Is this a good way to square the contradictory needs of donors and planners during a capital campaign like this?  Or is it a turn off?