Question

Scenario

You are Pat Overbridge, the CEO of Overbridge LLC. Two weeks ago, you announced that all employees will receive a bonus as a thank-you for Overbridge LLC's excellent year. Last week, you received a donation request from Pat Mason, the office manager of the local not-for-profit Habitat for Humanity branch. Because Overbridge LLC's current year donation budget is already established and the monies promised to other organizations based on an employee voting system, you must deny Pat Mason's recent request. In a future year, Overbridge LLC could possibly donate to the agency. However, because employees vote on how Overbridge LLC's charitable donations are distributed, you cannot necessarily guarantee a future donation; it really depends on employees' wishes and available budget each year.

Write a formal business letter to the person who requested a donation in last week's assignment. Inform him/her that you are denying the request. Use the Indirect Approach as outlined in your textbook.

1. Start the message with a buffer sentence. The first sentence should not reveal the bad news. “Your request is denied” is not correct. It uses "you-viewpoint" but since the news is negative, use of "your" in this example is incorrect.  Hint: Good communicators spend a small amount of time learning about the recipient and their organization. In your case, a 5-minute visit to the Spokane, WA Habitat for Humanity website will provide you will enough information to write a genuine buffer statement.
2. Next, provide reasoning that would justify the negative news, but do not give the bad news yet! Organizations would like to know that you are possibly willing to work with them in the future.
3. Follow the bad news with the positive statement(s) and an alternative way forward. The closing sentence should not refer to the bad news.

Answer 1

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