Category Archives: Databases
Win Board Approval for Your Fundraising Budget by Calculating Your Long-Term Donor Value
The ten dumbest words ever spoken in the English language are: “We don’t have money in our fundraising budget for that.” The people who say this most often are board members. Uninformed board members. Timid board members. Board members who … Continue reading
Why Average Lifetime Donor Value is the Most Important Metric in Fundraising
Nothing says more about the success of your fundraising program than the lifetime value of your average donor. Average lifetime value, of course, is the gross income you receive from your typical donor during the time the donor is giving … Continue reading
How to Discover How Many Donors You Need to Reach Your Annual Revenue Goal
Does your charity need to double or triple or quadruple its income over the next five or ten years? Are you trying to figure out how to do that? Follow these simple steps to discover how many donors you’ll likely … Continue reading
Boost Your Fundraising Letter Response Rates and Revenue with Five Simple Segmentations
I was 44 years old, about to adopt my second child, and was sitting in my lawyer’s office, looking over his updated draft of my will. Everything looked fine except for one small mistake. Throughout the document, he referred to … Continue reading
Four Fundraising Benchmarks You Must Monitor (or Else)
Know how to boil a frog? You don’t just drop him into a pot of boiling water. He’ll jump out. Instead, you place him in a pot of cool water, then warm the pot gradually to a boil. The frog … Continue reading
Know Your Six Fundraising Numbers or Die
If you appeared on the reality TV show Dragon’s Den (or Shark Tank), pitching your charity to investors, would they give you any money? Watch a few episodes of either show and you’ll quickly discover the most common mistake wannabe … Continue reading
Major Gift Fundraising and Prospect Research: How to Find Major Donors in Your Donor Database
The best person to approach for a major gift is someone who already supports your charity. Sometimes those donors are hidden in plain sight in your donor database. Here’s how to find them. —————————————————————- Receive a free fundraising tip like … Continue reading
Eight Direct Mail Fundraising List Segmentation Tips
1. Make a distinction between individuals, foundations and businesses Do not mail one appeal letter to everyone without distinction. Instead, segment your database into individuals, foundations and businesses, and speak to each audience in a unique way. —————————————————————- Receive a … Continue reading
Four Common Database Mistakes that Will Derail Your Direct Mail Fundraising Campaigns
I dislike being called Allan, Allen, Mr. Sharp and Mrs. Smith. If you want to please me as a donor, start by getting my name right and follow up by getting my address correct. To do that, avoid these four … Continue reading
Six Easy Ways to Warm Up a Fundraising Letter Appeal
Which would you read first (and right to the end): a typed, generic fundraising letter from the Red Cross or a hand-written letter from your grandma Hostetler in Muleshoe, TX? I’d choose the personal letter over the impersonal every time. … Continue reading
Dear Alan, What is “list cleansing” in direct mail fundraising?
List cleansing is the process of keeping a mailing list accurate and up to date. The process involves, among other things, removing duplicate records, formatting addresses to postal standards, and updating addresses of those who move. See more definitions at … Continue reading
Is Your Returned Mail Costing You $481 a Piece?
You have a costly problem with returned mail. All non-profit organizations do. You mail perfectly nice letters to donors who have supported your cause for years, and then, one day, without so much as a by-your-leave their mail comes back … Continue reading
How to Help Your Lettershop Bungle Your Fundraising Campaign
I know from reliable sources that the Mr. Murphy who coined Murphy’s Law (“If something can go wrong, it will”) worked as an account manager at a lettershop. After leaving his position of direct mail fundraising manager at a national … Continue reading
Reduce Undeliverable Fundraising Appeals by Acquiring Phone Numbers and Email Addresses Before Donors Move
Stephen Hitchcock makes a wise recommendation on how to keep your mailing list clean. In his article, Keeping Your Donor File Clean, in Contributions Magazine, Stephen recommends the following step: —————————————————————- Receive a free fundraising tip like this each week … Continue reading
Reduce Your Direct Mail Fundraising Costs and Attrition Rates with NCOA
What would you do if I broke into your office at midnight, sat down at your computer, and jumbled the mailing addresses of 1,200 of your current donors so they became undeliverable? —————————————————————- Receive a free fundraising tip like this … Continue reading
With Fundraising Software, it Pays to be Exclusive in Data Entry
The most valuable thing in direct mail fundraising isn’t your donors, but your donor data. Your building could burn down this afternoon, and all your staff could quit, and you’d still be able to recover if your donor data remained … Continue reading
Build Your Direct Mail Fundraising Mailing List in Three Ways
Your success as a direct mail fundraiser depends on the quality of your list. A mediocre letter mailed to the right list will outperform a terrific letter mailed to the wrong list. How you build that list is up to … Continue reading
Database Direct Mail Fundraising: Improve Personalization Results with Detective Work.
Next time you are arrested, pay attention to what information the police officer asks you to divulge immediately. It’s not a lot. —————————————————————- Receive a free fundraising tip like this each week by email. Sign up for Raiser Sharpe Tips … Continue reading
Count Your Donors and Your Dollars in Direct Mail Fundraising.
One of the greatest mistakes I see non-profit organizations making is watching their dollars and not their donors. —————————————————————- Receive a free fundraising tip like this each week by email. Sign up for Raiser Sharpe Tips here Browse Alan’s books, … Continue reading
Boost Net Income by Mailing Fewer Direct Mail Fundraising Appeal Letters.
One of the easiest ways to boost net revenue in direct mail fundraising is to stop sending every appeal to every donor. —————————————————————- Receive a free fundraising tip like this each week by email. Sign up for Raiser Sharpe Tips … Continue reading
