30 Ideas to Enhance Fundraising Direct-Response Creative, Part 3

As fundraisers, you all know the importance of messaging and message delivery. That's what makes creative in all fundraising direct-response appeals so vital.

At the Association of Fundraising Professionals' Fundraising Day in New York last Friday, three fundraising professionals, along with moderator Amy Tripi, president of Tripi Consulting, shared 30 ideas to enhance fundraising direct-response creative. Here are ideas 21-30 from the session "30 Ides in 60 Minutes: Your Hour of Creative Power" shared by presenters Luke Vander Linden, vice president and senior marketing at Carl Bloom Associates; Christine Shilosky, senior account executive at Mal Warwkick/Donordigital; and Lori Burns, senior vice president at Russ Reid. Check out the first 10 ideas here, and ideas 11-20 here.

21. Upgrade your donors to maximize their value
Strategies to employ to help upgrade donors to higher giving levels include:

• Quantifiable stretch asks
• Seasonal giving asks
• Cumulative giving updates
• Higher priced offers/larger asks
• Bundle offers for giving
• Wealth overlay/capacity research to target prospects for more giving

22. Get personal
Donors want to know that you care about them and value the relationships they have with you. So show you know who you donors are. Know when they joined, when they made their first and last gifts, the sources and reasons for their gifts as well as the channels. Then use that information in your communications, and localize your letter with the city and state of the donor. Do the same thing online — personalization is not just for direct mail. It requires a few extra data steps, but it's worth the effort.

23. Utilize big data
The ability to give doesn't always equate to the motivation to give, which is why rental lists tend to work better than wealth or income screening. Just because someone is wealthy or has disposable income does not mean that person is necessarily charitable.