Both charities and donors reacted speedily to the crisis in Haiti after January’s earthquake. But not all charities managed to keep their donors onside after they gave, as Liz Peltz and her colleagues discovered.

With text messages and tweets, Facebook postings and frontline blogs, UK charities pulled out all the stops to engage with millions of people wanting to help victims of the Haiti earthquake disaster.

The results have been magnificent: just a month after the earthquake struck donations to the Disasters Emergency Committee alone had topped £77m with the money still rolling in.

Along with gifts from stalwart supporters, many charities will have received money from folks who had never even given them the time of day before. What a fantastic opportunity to say thank you, hello and welcome. What a perfect chance to show the work in action and make someone think, ‘yes, I did the right thing to choose this charity. I’d be happy to give money to them again for something else.’

Talking about Haiti and how we felt about the money we’d given enlivened a recent team meeting at Burnett Works. We’d all donated to a variety of organisations online.

Some of us received thank you emails that sounded like they’d come straight from the field. Packed with vivid images of the challenges faced, and real aid being delivered against all odds. Fantastically moving. We read them out and got a little misty eyed.

Others felt like a confirmation of a transaction with Amazon, or worse. We read them out and wondered what went wrong, especially when emergencies are ironically the main donor recruiting ground of many relief agencies?

Take a look at the examples below to see what we mean.
 
If the charity you work for has been involved in the rapid response to Haiti, hats off. You’ve done an incredible job. But when the dust settles, why not look to see whether your online response to donors has done you and your cause justice?

Will this first touch point make a new donor likely to give again, or go elsewhere next time? How might it affect your relationship with an existing supporter?

These really are questions worth asking.

The emails and the reactions

Donors and fellow charity marketing specialists respond below to some of the communication they received from the charities they gave to.