Direct mail is not yielding as many results as before in gaining new donors, and this leaves many organizations worrying if they should continue looking for new donors. The answer, in short, is “Yes!”
When organizations stop investing efforts in looking for new donors, it may save some costs short-term, but the long-term revenue loss from not having those donors is far more damaging.
The NonProfit Times illustrates this by saying, “about 20% of the donors that are acquired in a given year will still be contributing to an organization in five years’ time. This is what makes donor acquisition an investment. The five-year value of a group of donors having an average contribution of $20 is $80 to $90 per donor acquired. Therefore, cutting a campaign that could acquire 5,000 new donors will result in a loss of $400,000 to $450,000 in future income”
You are being confronted with two different problems. Don’t fear though—there are solutions!
1) Look at your current level of active donors, and try to maintain this level. It is most likely that you will not lose every donor in your database so this is an easy number to maintain. Don’t view it as a daunting task. Stay committed to some direct mailings and email newsletters.
2) Send acquisition letters during months that have the best response rates. The first half of the year (before June and July) tend to be better for acquisitions.
3) Look at re-using names from contact lists that did better, if you pay for email contact lists. Make sure you negotiate for the best price and best set of contacts. Take some time to review the history of those emails/contacts.
4) Add lapsed donors to your acquisition mailings. Be sure to read our blog on recovering lapsed donors.
5) If you have corporate partnerships, see if they have names they can recommend to you.
6) Find ways to decrease the cost of your mailings and acquisition packages—expensive inserts and colors are not always necessary.
It comes down to easy steps. Find small ways to save costs so that in the long-term you can increase your revenue. It takes such foresight to find success in the current situations.
Additional information taken from The NonProfit Times article “8 Ideas For Finding New Donors in Today's Economy”
-- Jessica High is a Research Assistant at Christian Foundation Grants (www.christianfoundationgrants.com) which is a subscription database of foundations that provide grants to faith based organizations. iDonate.com is a website (www.iDonate.com) that allows ministries to receive non cash gifts online