Category Archives: Response
Give Your Donors What They Want so You Get What You Want
Thank your donors promptly and personally every time they mail you a gift. Describe how you are using the donor’s last gift the way the donor intended. The majority of long-term, faithful donors give to make a difference, and many … 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
Boost Direct Mail Fundraising Response Rates Three Ways
What percentage of your donor base sends your organization a gift each year? If you are at all typical, less than half of your donors at any given time are active. So how can you increase the percentage of your … 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
In Direct Mail Donor Acquisition, Ignore Your Initial Results
The secret to success at acquiring donors through the mail is to ignore your initial results. The results you generate in the first few months of your direct mail acquisition campaign might delight you or they might distress you, but … Continue reading
Should a Donation Thank-You Letter Ever Ask for a Donation?
I got a big surprise the day I closed my direct mail fundraising consultancy and started working for a national charity. I discovered that my new employer used its gift acknowledgement letters as a way to raise funds. With every … Continue reading
FAQs About Trading Mailing Lists with Other Charities in Donor Acquisition
Q1. What is list trading? A. List trading, or swapping, is the practice of exchanging mailing lists with another charity. They mail a fundraising letter to your list and you mail a fundraising letter to their list. —————————————————————- Receive a … Continue reading
Predict Your Direct Mail Fundraising Campaign Success with Doubling Day
How can you predict the success of your direct mail fundraising campaign before it has concluded? You know the challenge. If your charity is at all typical, you receive donations from your fundraising appeals for months, even years, after they … Continue reading
Good Fundraising Letter Reply Devices Tell Donors What to Do
My brother-in-law says you should be thankful for truckers because everything you buy was handled at some point by a trucker. LoWayne is a trucker, so he’s biased. But I think he’s right anyway. You depend on truckers for … Continue reading
Boost Fundraising Letter Response Rates by Making Responding Convenient
I had a client who wanted to drive prospective customers to his online store using a postcard. Great idea, I thought, and cost effective. He had a terrific product, a compelling offer, and a sound business model. He had just … Continue reading
Four Steps to Better Donation Letter Reply Devices
Successful direct mail donation letters contain three things: a compelling case for support, a request for funds (the “ask”), and a response device. The case is the Incentive. The ask is the Imperative. And the response device is the Instrument. —————————————————————- Receive … Continue reading
Lift Fundraising Letter Response Rates with Lift Notes
Do lift notes still lift response rates to fundraising letters? Yes, as long as they stand out. —————————————————————- Receive a free fundraising tip like this each week by email. Sign up for Raiser Sharpe Tips here Browse Alan’s books, handbooks … Continue reading
Direct Mail Fundraising Tests: Follow these Eight Rules for Success
The best way to improve your direct mail fundraising program is through testing. Don’t follow fads, board whims, or a gut feeling that turns out to be indigestion. Instead, test. And, to save money and time (and further indigestion), follow … Continue reading
Boost Response by Not Including a Reply Envelope
Your donors do not respond to your direct mail appeals because you include a postage-paid reply envelope. They respond because they believe in your cause, admire your organization, and want to help the people you serve. —————————————————————- Receive a free … Continue reading
Will Direct Mail Fundraising Work for You? Ask and Find Out
Back in 1997, as I sat in the departures lounge at Ottawa International Airport, I didn’t know if Ruth would accept my proposal of marriage. I fidgeted. I procrastinated. Finally, as they announced the final call for her flight back … Continue reading
Five Vital Signs of a Healthy Direct Mail Fundraising Program
I spent last night visiting two hospitals with my four-year-old son, Spencer. I noticed that the staff at each hospital took the same vital signs (pulse, oxygen saturation, temperature, breathing) to determine Spencer’s health. Nurses and doctors miles apart, working … Continue reading
Creative Business Reply Envelopes Boost Fundraising Letter Response Rates
When was the last time you agonized over what to put on your business reply envelope? If you’re like most non-profit organizations, your BRE never changes. You mail the same BRE with every direct mail fundraising letter. And you likely … Continue reading
Boost Your Direct Mail Fundraising Response Rates with Deadlines
Why did the Canadian cross the road? To get to the middle. Your job as a direct mail fundraiser is to give your donors both a reason for donating and an incentive for donating. Your enemy is inertia. Your enemy … 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
Direct Mail Fundraising Letters: Your Competitor is American Idol.
The bereaved mother who became a figurehead for the US anti-war movement abandoned her fight in May 2007 after growing disenchanted with the campaign. —————————————————————- Receive a free fundraising tip like this each week by email. Sign up for Raiser … Continue reading
Measure Your Success in Direct Mail Fundraising with Just Four Numbers
A while back I realized that measuring the effectiveness of direct mail fundraising campaigns is a lot easier than I’d thought. —————————————————————- Receive a free fundraising tip like this each week by email. Sign up for Raiser Sharpe Tips here … Continue reading
In Direct Mail Donor Acquisition, Compare Cost Per Donor with Cost Per Dollar.
The best way to measure your success in direct mail donor acquisition is to examine your cost to raise a donor rather than your cost to raise a dollar. —————————————————————- Receive a free fundraising tip like this each week by … Continue reading
Response Rates to Expect in Direct Mail Fundraising.
What kind of response rates do your direct mail fundraising letters generate? —————————————————————- Receive a free fundraising tip like this each week by email. Sign up for Raiser Sharpe Tips here Browse Alan’s books, handbooks and tools about fundraising. Visit … Continue reading
Fundraising Letter Response Rates: Boost Them (And Your Revenue) By Watching Nine Vital Statistics.
Direct mail fundraising is a numbers game. A game that changes all the time. Who could have predicted the advent of online giving? Or the popularity of sweepstakes? Or the rise of a generation of young donors whose primary method … Continue reading
Direct Mail Fundraising Arithmetic: Avoid Blunders By Knowing Your Numbers.
Your direct mail fundraising results never lie. But they mislead you if you let them. I worked as Director of Development for a national charity that held a lavish fundraising banquet each year. The staff, from the executive director down … Continue reading
Increase Average Fundraising Gift By Segmenting Your Donor List.
How many of your current donors would give you a larger gift if you only knew how to ask them? Quite a few, quite likely. —————————————————————- Receive a free fundraising tip like this each week by email. Sign up for … Continue reading
