Lowri Turner, fundraising manager at Kidscan, shares her top tips on complaints handling

In an ideal world, there would be no need for a ‘how to’ article on dealing with fundraising complaints: every DM piece, telephone fundraising campaign and street collection would be met with support and enthusiasm, just the way we want them to. But that’s not how it works in the real world. It can be easy to take any negative feedback as an assault on our cause – but it needn’t be that way.

Why complaints are good!

There are two different kinds of complainant; those who complain because they care about your charity’s reputation, and those who complain for the sake of it. We tend to lump most complaints into the last category, but in truth, most people belong to the first. If someone cares enough to pick up the phone, write a letter or send an e-mail, more often than not it’s because they care about your cause. They are certainly not indifferent. How you deal with their complaint can make or break the relationship.

Here are my top tips for effective complaints handling:

Prepare

If you’re about to launch a new appeal, you should have spent time thinking about how it will be received. You need to take a long, hard and impartial look at your appeal, and prepare yourself for possible objections. Get a focus group of supporters in to help you. Make sure you have an answer ready for every possible complaint. Then brief everyone in your organisation with the answers.

Remember, complaints aren’t always made to the fundraising department; everyone from your trustees and CEO to your receptionist could hear from a friend, family member, neighbour, or supporter. Make sure they are equipped with the tools to hold up your charity’s reputation.

Listen

You can’t answer your supporters’ questions if you don’t listen to what they are. Be aware that some people complain because they’ve been upset due to your appeal hitting a raw nerve. Sometimes all that’s needed is for you to listen.

Never shift the blame

In the face of criticism, it can be so tempting to pass the buck. Sentences such as “we outsource that, actually” and “the person you spoke to works for an agency” should never pass your lips. To the public, anyone who says they represent your charity IS your charity. Shifting the blame only makes you look worse.

Respond to every complaint

If someone has taken the time to contact you and share their view then they deserve to have you take the time to reply.

Keep your promises

If you tell someone you’ll look into their complaint, do it! Then let them know what you’ve found, and what action you’ve taken. A broken promise only compounds the problem.

Don’t complain about complaints!

There is nothing more demoralising than listening to a colleague speak to someone on the phone about a complaint, then launch into a barrage of derision once they put the phone down. It breeds contempt for concerned supporters and creates a bad culture.

If we really care about our supporters, we’ll care when they criticise as well as when they praise us. We need to recognise that how we handle their less positive comments says a lot more about how much we value them than our thank you letters do.

Lowri Turner is fundraising manager at Kidscan