The E-Card Deluge

I’ll admit it – I have mixed feelings.

No sooner did I post the last blog about the importance of personal communication (i.e. handwritten notes) then I got hit with a profusion of e-cards from nonprofits – at the rate of 5 or more per day. Now perhaps because of Cause Effective’s perch overlooking many nonprofits we’re getting more than the average Joe – but maybe not. And it’s a positively dizzying pace…

My feelings are mixed because it’s part of the Cause Effective doctrine to reach out and touch the members of your organizational “family” on more occasions than just when it’s time for a direct ask. And a holiday card reflecting on “where we’ve come to over the past year” is a nice touch. Kind of like an “annual report” but a little warmer.

But quite frankly (and maybe it’s me or maybe it’s my age – I’m on the other side of 40), I remember the actual cards we got – even those where the only individual touches were a handwritten “Dear Judy” and “Love Amy” – more than the deluge of e-cards (some of which are actually designed quite nicely).

But e-mail is fleeting. You read it, or not, and it’s gone. And it’s so easy to do e-newsletters that everyone’s caught on. Hence, the flood.

So mixed is where I remain. I literally got 30 messages titled “Happy Holidays” or something to that effect in the past two weeks. And about 5 cards through the mail.

But those cards are on display near our staff mailboxes and I smile every time I see them.  Which is not the expression on my face when I see my crowded in-box...