Netting High-Dollar Donors

4) Follow up. Don't just send out high-dollar mailings once a year. Including these prospects or donors in standard annual renewal or traditional appeals is a mistake. In his book, Warwick writes, "Functionally, high-dollar mail needs to serve as a communications platform to upgrade the most promising candidates from your small-donor program to a level of giving that's high enough to warrant attention from major gifts staff and volunteers."

Create a fundraising track for these prospects that includes gift acknowledgments; cultivation, education and reporting; annual renewal efforts; and special appeals, Warwick adds.

Mal Warwick can be reached via http://www.malwarwick.com

("The Mercifully Brief Real World Guide to ... Raising $1000 Gifts by Mail," by Mal Warwick, Emerson & Church Publishers, 2005)