How long do most of your donors contribute to your organization before they walk away? One year? Five? Ten? You should know. Direct mail fundraising, like all effective fundraising, is about raising friends rather than raising funds. Raising a friend...
Canadians have historically risen to charitable funding challenges by donating their money and time to help alleviate suffering both at home and abroad. According to the 2004 Canada Survey of Giving, Volunteering and Participating (CSGVP), more than 22 million Canadians made a...
While cash donations are always welcome, many charities are also happy to accept gifts in kind. However, unlike cashing a cheque, it's not always clear what the value of a gift in kind actually is, which makes filling out a...
What kind of response rates do your direct mail fundraising letters generate? That's the most common question I'm asked by potential clients. And it's a good question, since nonprofit organizations need the highest response rates they can get in today's...
Beyond cash, there are many other types of gifts that donors can give to charity. Adam Aptowitzer, a lawyer with the Ottawa-based law firm Drache LLP, reviews some of the options and what charities need to keep in mind when...
One of the greatest challenges in e-mail fundraising is poor open rates. The majority of donors who subscribe to email donor newsletters receive them but never open them. If you track your open rates, you likely already know that roughly...
I have a client whose direct mail fundraising program is in trouble. I think you can profit from his predicament. I know he is going to. The development officers at his nonprofit organization are doing plenty of things right. They...
Fundraising letters are about people. People talk. So your fundraising letters should include the voices of people. In a novel, the characters come alive only after you hear them talk. What they say, how they say it, when they say...
Your direct mail fundraising program should have three goals. Goal 1: Acquires donors If your organization is typical, you lose around 15% of your donors each year. They simply stop responding to your appeals. Fifteen percent is average, but it's...
This week's cover story is the final installment in a series of articles to help nonprofit organizations see the world from another perspective. The series also includes what funders, volunteers, consultants, and the media would like the nonprofit sector to...
