The Salvation Army has taken the unusual step of issuing a blanket apology to its donors in Manitoba for unwittingly releasing an aggressive fundraising letter.

Officials with the charity say the letter, mailed in the spring as part of its Red Shield Campaign, was written by an outside firm contracted by its national office. 

Though the letter was flagged for a rewrite by Salvation Army officials, it was accidentally sent out before the language was toned down.

"It [the mail-out apology] was a very difficult decision to make," said Maj. Al Hoeft, a spokesman for Salvation Army in Manitoba.

'I hope you received my recent letter about our Red Shield Campaign. I haven't received a reply from you yet, and quite frankly, that concerns me.'-Wording of original Salvation Army letter

He said officials weighed the cost of issuing the written apology, versus the perceived damage caused by the letter, and decided it was worth the expense.

"It came back to a big picture of what we want to accomplish in the way that we relate with our donor. We wanted our donors to know how valuable they were to us, and the role that they had in the overall work of the Salvation Army."

Hoeft believes this is the first time, in the charity's 124-year history in Canada, that it has taken such measures.

The original letter that was sent to its Manitoba donors was worded as follows: "I hope you received my recent letter about our Red Shield Campaign. I haven't received a reply from you yet, and quite frankly, that concerns me."

Hoeft says the organization received about 15 complaints about the letter, which struck many as being heavy-handed. Salvation Army officials were in agreement.

Hoeft says the organization was most concerned about the letter from a public relations stand point. He said it hasn't affected the group's bottomline. In fact, donations are up this year by about $50,000.

The cost of the mail-out apology was not made public.