A friend turned me on to this short about the idea of giving. What does “giving” really mean, especially as we consider the Christmas holiday season. I won’t pontificate further but will let the video speak for itself.
Hoping for a blessed New Year for you!
I am back after a brief hiatus due to recent surgery! About time too!
I have a story to share about a recent experience the proves the value of the simple “Thank You”. It involves a donor who is committed to the organization and its mission, eBay and its partnership with The Points of Light Foundation through MissionFish, and yours truly. (more…)
A little bit different from what I normally post but this recent experience is so amusingly bad that I can’t resist.
We received notification from an executor of an estate that we are the beneficiary of an IRA account that this donor had. The amount is good but not super large. The account was left with the brokerage firm (who at this time shall remain nameless unless they continue to screw this one up). The brokerage firm (hint, they are a large semi-online firm) had received notification of the death of the individual nearly six months ago but did not contact the beneficiary (us). The person in our office called the firm and requested paperwork to liquidate the assets. The brokerage firm informed us that we had to open a new IRA account. We are a corporation. Corporations cannot “own” IRA accounts.
Anyway, we did what they asked, completed the paperwork and sent it in. Nothing happened for a month. Then we receive a phone call from the brokerage firm saying they needed the birthdate of the VP who signed the documents. Huh? We called their customer service number and asked to speak to their internal counsel or compliance office. “Hold a minute please.” A couple of minutes later they come back on the line and inform us that counsel and compliance does not speak to customers. “But I can give you a fax number.” Huh? Does not speak to customers? Ugg. We faxed a letter requesting clarification about why a birthdate was needed. Still waiting to hear back. I will update if/when we hear anything.
How can this firm expect to stay in business when:
Does this sound like the AOL customer service fiasco recently where they refuse to listen to customers and cancel accounts? Hmmmm. Somebody has been reading the wrong book about customer service.
As an update to the Donation Security post from a couple of days ago, here is a resource that you may find valuable as you evaluate various 3rd party providers. This document is a list of companies certified by Visa to be in compliance with their credit card processing regulations. Visa Compliant Companies
CRM Magazine had a great articlein their recent e-newsletter concerning online security and the concerns that people have in transacting business on the internet. According to a Gartner survey quoted in the article, nearly $2 billion in online sales will be lost in 2006. To quote:
Nearly half of online U.S. adults, or 46 percent of more than 155 million people, say that concerns about theft of information, data breaches, and/or Internet-based attacks have affected their purchasing payment, online transaction, or email behavior. Of all the behaviors affected, online commerce . . . is suffering the highest toll.
You can also find the full article here. But non-profits typically don’t sell items on the internet. So how does that affect the trust relationship in this context?
