Don’t Fear Typos in Your Fundraising

It happens to all of us sooner or later: an email or letter goes to your donors with a typo in an important word.

A longtime client of ours just shared that a letter went out years ago with a prominent typo.  They meant to say that donors could give a gift to provide a specific service “for the deaf.”  Instead they told donors that they could provide that service “for the dead.”

The same two things happened that always happen in situations like this:

1. People panicked, and the fear caused some people to imagine all sorts of catastrophic scenarios.
2. The letter raised just as much as it normally did.  The fundraising performance of the letter was not affected at all by the typo.  No donors left the organization because of the error.

The catastrophizing was a tempest in a teacup.

But oh man do I understand it.  I’ve had deeply embarrassing typos myself.  I’ve feared for my job.  More than twenty years ago, I had a client find a typo, fire me that day because of it, then tell me that they weren’t going to pay any of the invoices I’d sent them.  I had an uncashed check from them that I hadn’t deposited yet, and their reaction was so forceful that I was worried they were going to stop payment on it.  This was an international organization, and the closest branch of their bank was about three hours away from me in Canada.  So I immediately got in the car, drove the three hours, crossed the border, and cashed the check before the end of the day. 

That typo left a mark.

But in my experience, and the experience of other fundraising lifers like me, the only kind of typo that reduces how much money you raise is a typo in/around how the donor makes their gift.

Typo in a url or in the programming of a QR code?  You’re in trouble.  Typo in the return address of your reply envelope?  Get ready for a long couple of weeks.

But that’s it.  The vast, vast majority of donors get it when they find a typo.  They know that no one is perfect.  They probably know you’re a small nonprofit, and that these things happen.  A few people will let you know about it, and everyone who was going to make a gift will still make a gift.

And if my experience is any indication, a few more people than normal will make a gift.  This experience is so common (a typo causing a slight increase in gifts) that the general understanding is that when people notice a typo, they “click” into an increased level of engagement; they stop skimming and start reading.  This increases the number of people who read the fundraising message, which increases the number of people who give.

(And if this makes you think about inserting a typo in your fundraising on porpoise to increase how much money you raise, I’ve had the same thought.  But I’ve never inserted a typo on purpose, except for the one in the previous sentence.)

I share all this so that, the next time a typo happens to your organization, you can be the voice of reassurance and reason in the room.  Don’t panic; respond warmly to the people who let you know about the typo, and keep on doing your important work.