Retention

I’ve been tracking an unusual renewal series as it unfolds — a purely postal mail campaign reminiscent of coordinated multichannel campaigns. Today, savvy nonprofits are exploiting all the multichannel possibilities and using e-mail to bookend renewal and special-appeal campaigns sent by postal mail, for example — alerting the donor that an important mailing is coming and following up after its projected arrival with another e-mail inquiring about its receipt and calling for action. The renewal series I’ve been monitoring is using this same strategy with a sequence of physical pre- and post-mailings around a Big Deal package. Building the anticipation The pre-package before

Lately, I’ve been hearing a lot about declining results for direct mail and flagging e-mail open rates. Our outreach apparently is not sparking the passionate responses we want. Don’t our donors and prospects love us anymore? Why don’t they take our calls? If this is starting to sound like an “advice for the lovelorn” column, then that’s appropriate. As fundraisers, we’ve got a lot of the same problems as the people writing Dear Abby. And I think our response-rate heartache is based in the root causes that the advice columnists so often cite. Really. The relationship we have with our donors and prospects is

In January, three fundraising professionals came together in a FundRaising Success webinar titled “Everything You Need to Know About Obtaining and Retaining Monthly Donors.” Though our pros were able to answer a number of the questions posed by the more than 100 attendees, they couldn’t get to all of them. So they took the time to answer many of those unanswered questions after the webinar ended. Over the past two weeks, you heard from two of our presenters; this week, it’s Jodi Scheib, vice president, fundraising, DMW Worldwide. Click here to read answers provided two weeks ago by Linda King, sustaining membership coordinator/Leadership Circle

From the Association of Fundraising Professionals: Sixty-two percent of Americans believe the typical nonprofit organization spends more than what is reasonable on overhead expenses such as administration and fundraising, according to a new survey. When respondents were asked what is a reasonable level of overhead costs for nonprofits, the average figure was 22.4 cents for every dollar collected. However, when asked what they thought the typical nonprofit actually spends on overhead costs, the figure was 36.3 cents per dollar. The findings, gleaned from a survey developed and conducted by Ellison Research involving more than 1,000 American adults, found that while respondents were fairly consistent

In January, three fundraising professionals came together in a FundRaising Success webinar titled “Everything You Need to Know About Obtaining and Retaining Monthly Donors.” Though our pros were able to answer a number of the questions posed by the more than 100 attendees, they couldn’t get to all of them. Over the next two weeks, we’ll be highlighting our experts’ answers to some of the questions that didn’t get answered during the webinar. This week, we’ll hear from Brian Cowart, senior director of mail acquisition and donor retention at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, who is responding mainly to questions about St. Jude’s monthly

In January, three fundraising professionals came together in a FundRaising Success webinar titled “Everything You Need to Know About Obtaining and Retaining Monthly Donors.” Though our pros were able to answer a number of the questions posed by the more than 100 attendees, they couldn’t get to all of them. Over the next three weeks, we’ll be highlighting our experts’ answers to some of the questions that didn’t get answered during the webinar. This week, we’ll hear from Linda King, sustaining membership coordinator/Leadership Circle coordinator at the Iowa Public Television Foundation. If you’d like to access the entire webinar online, go to www.fundraisingsuccessmag.com/docs/webinars.bsp

In a report titled “Myths of Monthly Donor Programs” on the Mal Warwick Associates Web site, Canadian consultant Harvey McKinnon talks about how easy it is for a nonprofit to lose annual donors to those organizations with more aggressive monthly donor campaigns. “When a donor joins a monthly donor club it has consequences. She may even start reducing her single gift donations to other nonprofits — perhaps yours! — because she has committed a greater share of her charitable funds through monthly donor programs. Here’s an example to illustrate my point: A donor, Ms. Cindy Williams, regularly gives a total of $1,000 a

Leave it to ASPCA’s Steve Froehlich to sneak a little banter about one-night stands into a session at the DMA Nonprofit Federation’s 2008 Washington Nonprofit Conference. Hey, the guy knows how to keep an audience on its toes. In the session titled, “Repeat After Me … I Will Give Again: Cementing Relationships that Garner a Second Gift,” which Steve co-presented with American Red Cross’ Margaret Carter and Convio’s Brian Hauf, he started off with this provocative question: “Before I begin, I’d like everyone who has ever had a one-night stand to think about how they felt the morning after.” (Needless to say there was

As we embark on a new year, so too have begun the membership/donor renewal efforts for many organizations.

In its whitepaper Courting the Mid-level Donor, fundraising consultancy Carl Bloom Associates offers these tips for doing just that: * Study giving history. Although base-level donors often are one-up givers, you might be able to develop some mid-level donors among them by studying giving history for multiyear donors who tend to increase giving amounts. Consider testing a stretch appeal to these individuals with a special offer that emphasizes recognition, as described in the next point. * Plan your mid-level offers carefully. These donors will want meaningful opportunities to participate in your mission, including invitations to special events, lectures and behind-the-scenes meetings with staff. And