Retention

During their presentation, “30 Ideas in 60 Minutes: Your Hour of Creative Power," at the Association of Fundraising Professionals Fund Raising Day in New York held last Friday, Jeff Brooks, creative director at TrueSense Marketing; Moira Kavanagh Crosby, president of MKDM; and Dennis Lonergan, president of Eidolon Communications, provided direct-response and online fundraising strategies to make your fundraising solicitations stand out from the crowd. Here, Crosby outlines her 10 strategies from the session.

In the past 15 years, the number of public charities has increased from 600,000 to nearly 1 million. This increased competition, coupled with changing demographics, has resulted in declining acquisition rates, rising acquisition costs and declining retention rates.

What if there were no new donors? That was the first question nonprofit veteran Roger Craver asked in his presentation, “Where It’s At! A 12-Step Program to Get You to Tomorrow,” at the first ever FundRaising Success Virtual Conference & Expo held last Thursday (and available on-demand until Aug. 24). Craver, founder of DonorTrends and editor of TheAgitator.net, said that is the reality today — with declining acquisition rates, rising acquisition costs, declining retention rates and declining income playing factors.

It was a great first date. Your messages were spot-on; he was interested in what you had to say; there was an immediate connection. You're off to a great start. Now what? Nonprofits of all shapes and sizes struggle with retaining first-time donors. The first step — getting them in the door — is a big one, but all that effort will be for naught if you can't take the relationship to the next level.

For too long, nonprofit marketers and fundraisers have decided how to communicate based on thinking grounded in direct marketing and economics. The problem with this approach is that it assumes people are coolly logical and make their decisions about supporting a cause based on a rational, linear thought process. We've laid out the cases for why our causes matter based on facts and numbers.

At-risk donors … we all have them. With a new year and a new decade, it’s a good time to recognize and engage with important donors who need more attention to keep them giving.

Matthew Bregman
director of development
El Museo del Barrio

Since Matt Bregman's arrival at El Museo del Barrio in spring 2006, private giving has soared from $2 million in FY02-05 to more than $6 million last year. But as impressive as those numbers are, it's not always just about numbers. According to Julián Zugazagoitia, director and CEO of El Museo del Barrio, Matt's leadership made it possible to reopen the museum to the public after a $35 million renovation.

Christina Johns
senior manager of DRTV and social networking
International Fellowship of Christians and Jews

Christina Johns came onto FS' radar last year when she pitched an idea to write about social networking in regard to nonprofit organizations. We were impressed with how 
comfortable she was with a subject that was so new to the sector and one that was causing all kinds of angst among even the most 
daring fundraising pros. She has an impressive and easy grasp of (and genuine passion for) the social-
networking milieu — its possibilities, its limitations and the strategies needed to make it work.

Loyal donors are vital to keeping nonprofit organizations afloat, especially in tough economic times. They give repeatedly over time, give a greater share of wallet, make referrals and likely also engage in nonmonetary participation.

In a webinar in June, nonprofit consultants and Agitator bloggers Roger Craver and Tom Belford delved into the issue of donor loyalty, sharing some statistics from a recent Agitator donor study, thoughts on things that impact donor loyalty and recommendations for how to improve it.

In the DMA Nonprofit Federation workshop “45 Top Strategies to Survive and Thrive in Today’s Economy” held in May in New York, presenters Lynn Edmonds, president; Bryan Terpstra, vice president of fundraising; Amy Beaudoin, associate creative director; and Kevin Eagan, vice president of production services, all of LW Robbins Associates; and Jenny Floria, senior director of account management at ParadyszMatera, offered practical guidance on the best strategies to strengthen donor relationships and increase net revenue during the economic downturn.