Your direct mail fundraising program should have three goals.
Goal 1. Acquires donors
If your organization is typical, you lose around 15 percent of your donors each year. They simply stop responding to your appeals.
Fifteen percent is average, but it's a terrifying percentage all the same. If your organization has 10,000 active donors today, and if 15 percent stop giving this year, then you will lose 1,500 donors.
This is the main reason that you need to create and manage a well-planned, annual donor acquisition program. You cannot afford to simply mail to your existing donors only. You need to replace the donors who never renew. Without a steady influx of new donors, you will be moving backwards each year, not forwards.
Goal 2. Renews donors
A whopping 65 percent of donors acquired by direct mail give once and never give again. What all of this means is that the most important gift in direct mail fundraising isn't the first gift but the second one. What's vital over the long-term isn't the first mailing that acquires the donor, although that's vital, obviously, but the second mailing (or third or fourth) that keeps the donor. That's why a healthy annual direct mail program includes a series of renewal mailings designed to renew the support of donors and members year after year.
Goal 3. Upgrades donors
Most people start supporting a non-profit organization by making a small donation. Often, that donation is sent through the mail in response to a direct mail appeal. Major donors, board members, those people who left you a large bequest in their will, all of them likely started out with a small gift. So you can see the necessity of cultivating all of your direct mail donors over time, nurturing them so that they increase their commitment, increase their loyalty, and boost their giving frequency and gift amounts.
As you can see, direct mail fundraising isn't primarily about money. Your direct mail program is primarily about finding new friends (acquisition), keeping those friends (renewal) and building lasting relationships with those friends (donor cultivation). When you manage to get all three of these things right year after year, the results show on your income statement. And you feel more fulfilled as a fundraiser.
© 2006 Sharpe Copy Inc. You may reprint this article online and in print provided the links remain live and the content remains unaltered (including the "About the Author" message).
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Alan Sharpe is a professional fundraising letter writer, instructor, coach, author and newsletter publisher who helps non-profit organizations to raise funds, build relationships and retain loyal donors using cost-effective, compelling, creative fundraising letters. Sign up for free weekly tips like this at http://www.RaiserSharpe.com
