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NAS fundraisers - come along now! You can be more direct

Dawn

So, most of us take things literally, have trouble picking our way through waffle to people's motives, don't do small talk, are direct in our requests etc...

I had a call today from NAS fund raisers who didn't quite go about things in a way that was er, tailored to Autistic people, lol. I had to laugh at the irony.

I'm familiar with the "we need a donation" format because of similar conversations with charity callers before, otherwise I dare say I'd have been scratching my head a good while to pick out what they wanted from me.

First there was a good 10 minutes worth of overly profuse "thanks" for support as a member. Really? Not necessary. And more on the importance of the NAS work. Yes, we know and agree! Before lots of tip toeing gingerly around the issue of "wills" and "donations". Took me a while, but when I caught on, had to direct her to the point before she waxed lyrical for another 10 minutes and I lost the will to live.

Oh dear! Don't get me wrong. I am passionate about the NAS. The Lorna Wing Centre literally saved my life when they diagnosed me, but as a fund raising approach...lol

Come on guys, we're Autistic! Just try: What we do matters, we're strapped for cash, any chance you can do a few more pounds now or leave us a bit when you peg it?

My answer: "Sure, no probs". And btw they'd whip through their 'to call' list ten times as fast.

To the callers: Honestly, I really don't need 10 minutes worth of that mysterious thing my lovely NT mate calls "feather smoothing" to pick my way through before you all too subtly  tell me what you want. You can cut straight to the chase. It's fine. In fact I would rather you did. You need my cash to keep going. Gotcha! My pleasure.

Anyone else had a call lately and think we should slip them some friendly feed back?

  • in reply to Liz Mod

    Oh, it's not that much of a biggie.  I just found the irony really funny is all.  They were really polite and I'm happy to help.  It's just they could cut straight to the point when the person when calling is Autistic.  Some of us get confused by the motives of people going through all that preamble first. The approach probably works for non-autistic supporters - but for me, ...you need cash, cool, you're welcome!  And yes, I am about to re-make my will. LOL

  • Hi Dawn – I really appreciate you taking the time to post this. I’m sorry that your experience with our gifts in Wills fundraiser was less than satisfactory. As you make the point, quite rightly, that as much as possible everything we do should be tailored to autistic people. On the one hand, this fundraising approach has always worked very well for us, though I do understand that we have an obligation to remember that any of our fundraisers could at any time be calling an autistic person. 

     

    I think you make an excellent point regards ‘feather smoothing’ approach. And the first thing we’ll look to do is finesse our scripts, as perhaps we can reduce some of the ‘waffle’ and be more direct about why gifts in Wills are so important to ourselves, and for every charity in being able plan for the future. As you say, we are after all speaking with some of our most passionate members, supporters, beneficiaries and volunteers. 

     

    It would certainly help us greatly to be able to listen to your call. If you are comfortable with identifying yourself please do get in touch with our Legacy and In Memory Manager, Jamie by emailing Jamie.Rae@nas.org.uk. Thank you so much for your feedback.

    Liz Mod

  • in reply to Luna

    Yep, just get to it. We support them in the first place for a reason. 

  • Ha yes I've had calls like these from NAS and other charity groups including MacMillan it's funny how they start of with the thank yous and then go full swing into things lol. I think they don't need to do so many thank yous just get straight to the point especially as phone calls can be stressful for a lot of people.