BlogSpot: Donors Wonder Where Their Money Goes

How loyal is the average donor? Not very, it seems. "In many large national programmes fuelled by direct mail," fundraising guru Mal Warwick observed in 2005, "no more than 25 [percent] to 35 percent of newly acquired donors ever give so much as a second gift."

And that was then. These numbers never go up; they always get worse. A 2012 report from the Direct Marketing Association found that response rates to direct mail had dropped "nearly 25 percent over the past nine years." It's relatively easy to get a first gift. It's consistently hard to get a second gift, especially during a worldwide economic downturn that leaves everyone feeling poorer.