Giving Donors Power Pushes Up Giving

For new donors who qualified for this mid-level program by giving the minimum cumulative amount of $1,000, we enhanced the introduction package and placed a welcome telephone call.

Finally, we invited select donors to participate in live call-in conference calls with Peter Bell, CARE’s president.

The tangible results speak for themselves. Over the past two years, the giving frequency of this donor audience has risen 28 percent to 3.7 gifts per year from 2.9. Annual revenue per donor has increased 24 percent to $1,590 from $1,282. Most importantly, overall revenue from this mid-level group of donors — an audience of about 3,600 donors — increased to just under $6 million from $3.3 million.

(These results compare FY 2004, ending June 30, 2004, with FY 2002 when the special treatment program began in earnest. Because some donors have graduated into higher-end giving groups at CARE, and others have moved back into the general donor file, a precise comparison of performance is not possible.)

Brian Cowart is the director of direct marketing for CARE, the international humanitarian organization. He supervises all fundraising efforts from new-donor acquisition through ongoing cultivation and upgrading of donors. Brian can be reached at 404.979.9162 or via e-mail at cowart@care.org.