I think what Peter and you are both talking about is donor fatigue. That is a real problem for charities. The money is not coming in, you ask more, and the money is still not coming in. That is one of the reasons we need to look at different ways to generate income for charities and non-profits in Canada.
Your other question was about what you say to donors to either encourage them to donate or to give them that good feeling after they donate. I think the answer to that is what I mentioned before: a social return on investment, an SROI. It's about being able to articulate and to tell the story of how your donation has changed the lives of people who have come to our organization for help, even getting down to telling the story of one person: “Susan and her children went home today with food for a week. She can make healthy meals for herself and for her kids. Your donation has made that possible.”
So sharing the story, or giving more examples of that social return, I think will help combat donor fatigue.