Anonymously yours,

Put this one under the "What are they thinking" category...

We literally receive hundreds of leads a month. Most are from are target markets, of course- non-profit organizations that are looking for easy AND robust fundraising software.

Every month we do receive a handful from overseas, and a typical story is from people who are trying to raise funds to build a boat that will connect their village with the mainland. It's very difficult to understand if they are being serious, or if they really think fundraising software will help their predicament. In the end, we usually have to ignore these requests because inevitably they ask for a donation or even promise to send a cashier's check for twice the amount, and to refund us the difference (the old Western Union-Cashier Check fraud scam that has been going on for years).

Lately though, we received this request from an anonymous person, with an anonymous organization, who wanted to be treated, well, anonymously.

This person wanted a full demonstration of DonorPerfect Online, a free account, complete access to all materials, and please, "No phone calls or mail - email only".

Well, the last time I checked we were not in the 'anonymous' industry. We like to build partnerships with our clients, and predictably, this means we need to know who they are and what they do.

If this person is a competitor, they should just stop by our booth at any of the dozens of conferences we attend because a) we'd rather take less materials home, and b) we'd rather they know the truth about our software rather than the lies that we hear all the time (OK, OK, that was a little harsh, but really- if they are going to talk about our software at least get it right and be up to date).

We'll see if this person responds favorable- my guess is that they will quickly lose interest and try another way to get their information "anonymously".