The Complainer Cares

Or wants to.  Anyone concerned enough to complain cares about your nonprofit and deserves your attention.

You will typically hear complaints very early in a donor relationship, usually when you ask for a first meeting.  Some complainers will wait until you’re face-to-face to unload on you, and you might feel you’ve been ambushed.  This feeling is accurate.  You have been invited to listen, and that’s exactly what you ought to do.

Once you have made several telephone calls and been on a few discovery visits you will have learned to be ready for the unexpected complaint, and you will have figured out how to respond.

My own response, fine-tuned over time, was to simply acknowledge the issue brought up and invite further discussion.  Some complainers tested me by saying there was no need to meet.  I responded to them by suggesting that our meeting is important, and that it be used for me to learn the details of the complaint so I can try to do something to address it, to correct it, etc.  I found, time after time, this was just what the complainer was hoping for.

My favorite comment is “Thank you for caring enough to let me know that (whatever THAT was).  This makes it important that we meet, so I can learn the details and see what I can do to help make it right.”

Embrace your complaining constituents.  They care enough about your nonprofit to express their feelings.  Even when it doesn’t initially sound or feel that way, they give you opportunities, invitations to help.  Once you’re able to succeed in your response, often with the help of colleagues, you will have converted your complainers into constituents, open to your invitation to talk about more important things, like how you can help them with their gift planning.