[tab name=’Guidelines’]

Guidelines : Responding Negatively

Responding Negatively to Solicitations

Guidelines and Alternate Phrases

• Begin with a neutral opening, stating you have considered the request.
• We have received your letter about support for the local YMCA summer program.
• Thank you for writing us to present your fund-raising goals for the rebuilding of Hague Street.
• Thank you for letting us know of your needs for funding further research.
• We thank you for writing us about the opportunity to contribute to the Maxim Foundation for Social Research.
• The project for restoring Milton Square to attract tourists has interesting possibilities.
• We admire your dedication and tenacity in your ongoing efforts on behalf of the local Heart Fund.
• Agree on the worthwhile efforts of the organization making the request, if possible.
• The museum project you contacted us about sounds wonderfully educational.
• The work you are doing with the Boy Scouts sounds both fascinating and educational.
• We have received your letter about expansion at the children’s home; your plans sound exciting and will obviously afford the needed room to house more abuse victims.
• We hear from time to time about the successes you are having in your counseling centers.
• We agree these people are very deserving.
• We are happy to learn your organization has taken on the responsibility to see something is done about these community problems.
• Your efforts with these deserving groups should be appreciated by all of us who want our children to grow up in a safe, healthy community.
• Begin with your reason, and then state your decision not to contribute on this occasion.
• We have asked our committee to review all the requests we have received from excellent organizations such as yours, and the members have chosen to support those they feel most worthy. We regret we have contributed our available funds elsewhere this year.
• As you are probably aware, so many fine organizations such as yours come to us for financial help each year, and we find great difficulty in deciding which causes are most deserving. This year we have allocated most of our funds to the three local drug-rehabilitation facilities.
• Because we’ve already overextended our budget for charitable causes this year, we simply cannot help you out this time.
• We’ve found our own funds for worthwhile causes such as yours have had to be directed to helping some of our own employee families through this difficult economic time.
• As you can probably imagine, we receive hundreds of requests for funds each year, and, as much as we’d like to, we simply cannot respond to all of them.
• Our committee for earmarking our charitable contributions has directed our funds toward different organizations this year.
• Our policy is to contribute five percent of our profits to charitable contributions, and we already reached that point earlier in our fiscal year.
• We don’t mean to offend you and your noble intentions, but our organization simply does not agree with the tenets of your organization and its programs.
• We wish we could feel more positively toward your fund-raising efforts, but I’m afraid we disagree with the organization’s philosophies and basic interests. Therefore, we must decline to underwrite this current effort.
• In our organization we have a policy to match every employee’s personal donation with one of our own to the same organization. Therefore, the list of those who receive our contributions is determined by the wishes of our employees individually in their personal giving.
• We wish we could contribute to your cause, but we simply don’t have funds available this year to do so.
• Express your good wishes for the organization and the successful fund-raising/volunteer campaign if you agree with the cause.
• We wish you the best in your efforts.
• We hope you meet your goal; your cause is entirely worthwhile.
• You have our best wishes for raising the funds to meet this literacy need.
• We wish you success in soliciting the volunteers who can help you meet this great need.
• We appreciate all you’re doing on behalf of the community, and we wish you success in this most recent undertaking.
• Your organization meets a great need in the community; we wish you success in your fund-raising efforts.
• Your organization can make a big difference in the lives of the needy; we wish you success in this effort.
• You have our thoughts and prayers in your efforts.
• Your plan sounds feasible and sound. We wish you success with it.
• Yours is an excellent organization, and we wish you every success.
• Thank you for contacting us about this opportunity; we hope to help you out at a later time.
• We wish you the best in your fund-raising efforts. Yours is a worthy project.
• We know many benefit from your services each year; we hope you’ll continue to be able to keep up the excellent work.
• Thank you for spending such time and effort in improving the community. We wish you success.
• Without organizations such as yours, our community would not be the nice place to live that it is. We hope you will have every success in meeting your service objectives this year.

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[tab name=’Example 1′]

Example 1: Reply negatively to solicitations request

Company Name or Letterhead
Address
City, State Zip
Date

Addressee
Address
City, State Zip

Dear Mr. Cantelloni:

We have received your letter about the scholarship funds now being established at ACL University. With the high cost of education nowadays, such scholarships can really make a difference in a young person’s direction and later contribution to society.

As you may know, our organization established a committee several years ago to consider and evaluate each request we receive for donations and personal involvement. Our policy is to contribute three percent of our gross sales each year to charitable causes such as yours. This year the committee has decided to contribute our funds to other organizations and their programs. We certainly wish we had unlimited funds to donate to the many needs we see around us, but just like the family budget, ours has its limitations also. Perhaps in other years we can be more positive in our response.

Thank you for letting us know of your efforts toward the scholarship funds, and we wish you every success in meeting your goal to help deserving students further their studies. Education truly demands our attention in corporate America.

Sincerely,
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[tab name=’Example 2′]

Example 2: Refuse letter for donation

Company Name or Letterhead
Address
City, State Zip
Date

Addressee
Address
City, State Zip

Dear Ms. Coats:

Thank you for contacting us about your efforts in establishing halfway houses for abused spouses and their children.

With all of the requests for donations, some time ago we established a comittee to consider all corporate giving and to administer our approved budget for charity. The committee members have reviewed our corporate charitable decisions for the year and find it will be impossible to contribute to your organization at this time.

We want you to know, however, we think you are doing very commendable work in the community. We often feel frustrated by the impossibility we face here in not being able to contribute to every worthwhile opportunity, such as the one you are chairing. We wish we could have had a more positive answer for you.

On behalf of the community as a whole, thank you for the help you are giving these abused families.

Sincerely,
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[tab name=’Example 3′]

Example 3: Decline request for donation

Company Name or Letterhead
Address
City, State Zip

Date

AddresseeAddress
City, State Zip

Dear Mr. Ivee:

Thank you for notifying us about the good work the Virginia Children’s Fund and Camp Blue Sky do on behalf of diabetic children. You certainly seem to be filling an important need within communities across the state. We know how important it is for diabetic children to become comfortable with managing their health and to feel like normal kids at the same time.

We spend four percent of our revenues each year on charitable donations. According to a policy we instituted three years ago, we distribute the money set aside for charities to the same four organizations in Richmond each year. With our commitment of long term support, those organizations have the benefit of being able to make long-term plans. It also helps us avoid agonizing decisions about who to select from the many worthwhile organizations that request our support. Because of this policy, we regret we will not be able to contribute to your worthy cause.

We thank you for introducing us to your efforts to aid diabetic children. We wish you the best of luck in achieving your ambitious goals.

Sincerely,
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[tab name=’Example 4′]

Example 4: Negative response to fund request

Company Name or Letterhead
Address
City, State Zip

Date

AddresseeAddress
City, State Zip

Dear Mrs. Lauder:

We appreciate your letter about the efforts of the Concord Art in Public Spaces Foundation. Your interactive sculpture across the street from our office has been a delight to our employees since it was erected. I was pleased to read that you are also planning to place several sculptures in Hyde Park City Gardens.

We usually make our decisions regarding charitable donations for the year by the beginning of March. While we would like to support the Foundation’s contributions to the community, our funds have already been allocated to other charitable organizations.

We would be happy to consider supporting you next year if you could contact us toward the beginning of the year. Until then, we will be watching the City Gardens area for more public art. Thank you for all you do to bring art into our everyday lives.

Sincerely,
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[tab name=’Example 5′]

Example 5: Responding Negatively

Company Name or Letterhead
Address
City, State Zip

Date

AddresseeAddress
City, State Zip

Dear Ms. Gardner:

We received your letter regarding the wonderful projects the Community Health Initiative has planned for next year. In particular, the plan to build a free clinic on the west side of the city is long overdue. The unavailability of affordable health care in that area in the past has been a detriment to many low-income residents.

We have read recent newspaper coverage about recent troubles your organization is experiencing with excessive spending on administrative procedures and unaccounted funds. Donating our limited charitable funds to local organizations is the primary way we as a corporation help the community. I am sure you understand we are extremely careful about the organizations we select. Until we can be certain your current problems are resolved, we are afraid we cannot make any contributions to the Community Health Initiative.

Nonetheless, we applaud your plans to improve medical care for residents on the city’s west side, and wish you every success.

Sincerely,
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