A kinder, back-to-basics approach to donor relations amounted to a 30 percent increase in contributions for D.C.’s Heritage Foundation.

By Margaret Battistelli Gardner

It all started in 2000, when two senior research associates at a Chicago ad agency offered to do some pro bono work for the Heritage Foundation and created an eight-page, 300-question survey to gather data about the conservative think tank’s members.

The survey asked not for money, but for information, and was sent to 10,000-15,000 people who cut across Heritage’s donor and potential donor segments — active, lapsed, contributors to other conservative groups, etc. — and to the general public of all political leanings. Walter says the response rate varied from 12 percent to 20 percent according to segment.