I just got a solicitation from U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance (USSA). That's okay. It's time for my annual renewal. USSA is a worthwhile organization and is effective in defending sportsmen's issues. I would encourage anyone to donate to them.

This time they sent a three page letter, detailing some of their plans and issues, and asking for a "Pledge" for a specific time period, and an extra donation for sportsmen's issues. That's all right too.

However, after all that blah, blah, blah, rhetoric... NOWHERE amongst all the crap, do they tell you who to make the check out to. I wrote them a note. "When you get so carried away with yourselves that you forget the fundamentals... well, that's not a real confidence booster."

I have seen this time and time again. I remember getting a solicitation for donations from the NTA a few years ago. Nowhere inside that material did it tell you where to send the donation.

I hope this can serve as heads up for any of you who might have to be engaged in solicitations or fund raising for your organization.

While it is certainly necessary to construct a good outgoing message, the major concern should be to get the donations to come back in. This process should be made as seamless as possible for the donor. Tell them the exact name to put on the check, and make it very clear where they are to mail that check. Better still, provide them with a pre-addressed return envelope.

Build confidence.

Hal

Hal it seems we have a pet peeve in common. Both my wife and myself made payments on our NRA lifetime memberships. We both elected to have automatic monthly deductions from our checking accounts to pay for this. EACH and EVERY month we recieved letters from the NRA stating our monthly payment was due and EACH and EVERY month I made a phone call to correct this and then we would recieve a watch/knife/American flag to thank us for signing up for auto deductions. EACH and EVERY month I asked the same question "If you get it together, how much more money would you have for the good fight?" And sadly each and every month we recieved a watch/knife/American flag made in China.

I used to be a ducks Unlimited member and believer. then I noticed that the people on the committee have DU jackets, DU watches, ledgers, pens, prints in their homes ..... all given to them by DU.

I joined Delta.