Optimizing the Demise (Part 2)

Yesterday we posted the first of our five part series on Optimizing the Demise, if you missed it, click here to read.  Today we offer you the second practical idea for how to optimize the decline in your direct mail fundraising program: Stop direct mail testing – at...

Optimizing the Demise (5 part blog series)

Recently we’ve been talking a lot about unsustainable trends, the decline of direct mail and the eventual shift in fundraising that needs to happen because of it. We didnt mean to start the year off by depressing everyone about the future, so, over the next five blog...

Improving Your Fundraising Events

Running, walking and cycling fundraising events that feature participants who raise money from friends have been around longer than Al Gore and the internet. However, this is one area where nonprofits have effectively utilized online technology to advance event...

My Fall Mailbox

How full was your mailbox this fall? I received an even 51 impacts this fall from October 1 – December 31. That’s an average of 4 pieces per week. Eight (8) of these impacts were direct mail acquisition kits: Three (3) gift catalogs from Heifer Two (2) appeals from...

The Expert Witness

As promised in last week’s blog post, here are the details on one of my most memorable business travel experiences this year… I was sitting in 2B (upgraded, thank heavens) on a flight from Seattle to Atlanta. My neighbor in 2A was an odd looking man who...

Unsustainable Trends

These trends might sound familiar: Your new donor acquisition counts are flat. Your retention is slipping. So, your active donor counts are shrinking. However, you have seen big gains in average gift size. So overall, your revenue is flat. This has been the general...