Top Fundraising Strategies For Thriving in Times of Economic Stress

• Thank all donors promptly and thoughtfully. Seven percent to 15 percent of your program’s revenue should come from your acknowledgement program. If you aren’t there, audit your program. Are you welcoming new donors to your organization? Are you sending out thank-yous within one week of gift receipt? Are you using First Class postage? Are you warm, friendly and appreciative? Are you showing how the donor’s gift is already having an impact?
• Keep your monthly sustainers engaged. Mail your best renewal appeals to this loyal group at least three to four times a year. Make sure you recognize their special relationship with you when you do contact them.
• Step-up recruitment efforts to keep your monthly sustainer group stable or growing. Test “hybrid” single gift/monthly gift reply slips in strong renewal appeals. Test monthly giving stand-alone inserts in regular appeals; also include them in acknowledgements. Try mailing two to four invitation mailings each year to recruit more donors. Telemarketing invitations work well for this offer and should not be cut from your program.
• Treat mid-level donors like major donors. Most nonprofits face the challenge of retaining their mid-level donors ($100 to $5,000 range) and dealing with lower average gifts. And some major donors are not responding to personal contacts during this down economy. Work with your major-gifts team to include certain major donors in the mail program, using high-touch treatments. If you have a branded, mid-level donor society, look for ways to increase participation by lowering the entry point to join. If you start at $500 or $1,000, consider levels at $100 or $250. Be sure to support all your club levels with unique benefits.
• Revisit gift-array testing in your renewal and lapsed donor appeals to counteract declining response rates. Try smaller amounts and multipliers. For instance, for lapsed audiences, instead of last gift and then multipliers from that, test 0.75 of last gift, last gift, 1.25 of last gift and 1.5 of last gift.
• Reduce the costs of your control packages. Change envelope paper from 24-pound to 22-pound stock, reduce colors on components (two color vs. four color), and switch to offset letters vs. personalized, lasered letters.
• Use consolidation and comingle services to reduce postage costs. Cost savings vary depending on volume, number of lots and geographic mailing area, but even small nonprofits can realize significant savings.

• MORE ON
• CAMPAIGNS / FUNDING SOURCES