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I send the money, WCBU thanks my wife

4 Comments

I decided to give some money to WCBU this year for their pledge drive. I gave it over their website — put in my name, address, phone number, credit card information, etc.

Today, my wife got a thank-you letter from WCBU. My wife is an alum of Bradley University (and yes, she can prove it in a moment’s notice) and of course WCBU is part of Bradley University, so it appears that Bradley’s computer matched up the address of my gift with her address in the alumni database and — voila! — a thank-you note was sent out to the wrong person.

Does it make a difference, since we are married, after all? Actually, yes. My wife thinks that NPR is liberal and would never have considered giving WCBU any money in her life. They really should be thanking me for the gift. That is, if they ever want me to send them any money ever again.*

*Disclaimer: This is an empty threat. My friend Jonathan Ahl personally thanked me already. The letter was computer-generated and signed by Thomas Hunt, Executive Director. Nevertheless, I think it’s poor form for a business to send a thank-you note to the wrong individual.

4 thoughts on “I send the money, WCBU thanks my wife”

  1. This happens to us a lot, particularly because we have different last names. My husband’s donations are almost always “thanked” to me, because after only three years I’m in every friggin’ charitable database in Central Illinois.

    In the alternative, people who don’t exist frequently get thanked at our house, with names like “Laura Garth Madison.” Who knew I had such a kick-ass middle name? (And are there seriously organizations in this day and age whose databases don’t have the capability to take two different last names? Because this happens a LOT.)

  3. CJ:

    The reason that happens is because your wife is already in the BU database. In an effort to not send multiple copies of stuff to the same address, the system is set up to go with just one adressee.

    Point taken, though.

  4. That’s okay, Jonathan. I’ll just send my next donation to the Bradley Alumni Association. We already have that Bradley address in our database. 🙂

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