Events are the glue that holds your major gift program together. Events create memories for your donors. Memories that will last a life time… memories that can be good or bad.
non-profit
Sometimes the truth works…
Your supporters do not give because you are successful, or because you are a great manager, or because you have met your quarterly budget…
Legacy Giving in the 4th Quarter
“When you get to my stage in life you begin thinking about your footprints,” said the gentleman, “It is not about what you keep, but what you can give away… It is not about how much money you make, but what you can do to keep impacting the world after your time is up… you have to leave some footprints.”
Sometimes Ugly Works…
SOMETIMES UGLY WORKS. Rest assured what gets an envelope opened is uniqueness. If it is too slick or too pretty it reeks of “junk mail”. I have seen successful acquisition campaigns mailed in a brown, paper bag, literally. I am not kidding. I have seen envelopes that I just said, “yuk”… and guess what they lifted response rates.
“Where have my donors gone… let’s see, did I remember to say thank you?”
Of the individuals who stop giving to your organization, according to Judith Nichols of Pinpointing Affluence Research, only four out of 100 former donors actually move away or die;
15 have decided to make their gifts to other organizations;
15 are unhappy with your organization;
66 think you don’t care about them.
Direct Mail: R.I.P 2011?
Direct mail pre-printed reply devices may be decreasing in use, but the direct mail fundraising letter is at an exponential high. People are reading their mail and then using the giving channel they trust the most. Remember, in 2011 the key will be how you use direct mail AND the internet, not direct mail or the internet.
Show Me The Numbers…
My job today is about “doing the math”… testing, reading results, retesting, back testing and beating the control. In 1977 as a senior in high school if someone had told me that “you will be a MATH consultant, teacher and mentor for full time profession” I would have...