February 4, 2020
While donor retention is a key component to a successful annual giving program, there will always be donors who simply cannot renew their support, for a myriad of reasons (lifestyle changes, death, financial circumstances, etc.). Organizations always need to be thinking about how to bring new donors in the door. However, it’s no secret that […]
December 2, 2019
Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 3… Are your direct mail response rates a little soft? Is your acquisition program not bringing you the results you were anticipating? Sounds like the time is ripe to do some testing to see what will improve your appeals and – by extension – increase your revenue. There’s plenty of things […]
August 23, 2019
Communication and Connection As fundraisers, we’re always trying to find the best possible way to communicate with our donors. Sometimes it seems like we’re just doing it to raise more money. And that would be fair, since raising money is the reason we have jobs. But there’s something more to it than that. I would […]
May 10, 2019
People generally make split-second decisions about what’s worth keeping or tossing, when going through their mail. Here are five tips to create interest and keep your mail out of the recycle bin. Size #10 envelopes are everywhere. Change it up a size or two so it stands out a little more. Or go smaller for […]
November 14, 2018
Several months ago, I wrote about building a better monthly donor file for your organization. If you missed it, you can check it out here. Since then, a number of questions have come up about the different types of channels and campaigns available for monthly donor acquisition. Monthly donors remain some of the most valuable and sought-after […]
August 27, 2018
We’ve had an incredibly hot summer here in Ottawa. In fact, most of us have found it too hot to spend a whole lot of time outdoors. With the A/C on blast, many of us have taken to indoor projects. For me, that’s meant finally tackling the mountain of charitable mailing samples and donor premiums […]
August 13, 2018
“If only more people knew about us and the great work we do, we could raise so much more money.” As a fundraiser, how many times have you heard this? And be honest, you may have even uttered those words yourself in a moment of weakness. Wanting to raise awareness, educate and share the story […]
May 7, 2018
It’s an almost mythical number that comes up in team meetings and budget discussions: donor Lifetime Value. When mentioned, heads nod. Everyone agrees – it’s important. But when was the last time you calculated the Lifetime Value of your donors? Lifetime Value (LTV) is a critical metric at the disposal of every fundraiser – one […]
April 23, 2018
You just released a killer appeal into the donor universe and you know it’s going to yield big results. The donations start rolling in and you have made a dent in your acquisition target. Congratulations! Err… maybe hold that congratulations for a minute. Many seasoned fundraisers agree that a donor is not really yours until […]
June 26, 2017
Any fundraiser who’s done new donor acquisition in the past decade knows just how hard it’s become to bring new donors into your charity’s fold. And not only is it hard to find the bodies, it’s awfully expensive to bring them in. To give you a broad idea, here’s an example just from my own […]
