I recently needed to have a new window installed at home. The salesperson came out, measured, and gave me a quote. After the window was installed, the sales person followed up to make sure that we were happy with the purchase and to see if the installers had fulfilled the order correctly. I am happy with the new window, but the treatment before and after the sale were just as important in determining whether to give that company my business in the future.
There are some parallels that can be made with the tax credit program. Have you followed up with your donors who gave in 2018 to make sure that they received their tax credit? We think that the process works smoothly most of the time, but we know that from time to time donors have issues claiming the credit and we want to be there to help when it is needed!
We know of one school who reached out to all of their donors who were new to the program in 2018 to make sure that they received their credits. One donor responded that they had issues that weren’t resolved. Another school emailed us about a donor who contacted them recently regarding a 2017 credit that had been denied. That donor had been working with the DOR for months and the issue wasn’t resolved. What did these two situations have in common? Our amazing contact at the DOR resolved both of them within HOURS of receiving our inquiry!
Please use “did you get your tax credit?” as a way to follow up with those who gave last year. Make sure that the service they received was excellent from start to finish, and remind them that they can give now to secure their 2019 credits! (And if you do run across a donor with a problem claiming the state credit, let us know right away so that we can help with the resolution.)