Saying "No" Effectively

I chair a committee for a local charity that was in financial dire straits due to the reallocation of funds as a result of 9-11 relief efforts. Our organization lost $85,000 in funding for the year and was barely able to pay the rent. My committee was in charge of getting this message out to past donors quickly in hopes of sustaining the organization. Two weeks after the donor contact information was given to the committee members, I e-mailed the committee to see how they were doing with their calls. Below is one of the responses.