Learn more about analytics and research best practices, as well as real world examples and solutions for nonprofits.

The Force Awakens?

theater image I’ll be darned.

Direct mail acquisition seems to be making a comeback.

OK, perhaps not to the degree of a Star Wars $250MM opening weekend comeback. But as I am reviewing recent acquisition (and reactivation of deeply lapsed donors) results, I was pleasantly surprised to see that new donor (and reactivated donor) counts aren’t falling.

Even better news is that retention of Second Year donors are improving for the first time since Mark Hamill’s last film any of us can recall seeing (which any fan would know is the 1978 film Corvette Summer).

The question is whether this comeback will last, or is it a momentary pause in direct mail’s inevitable demise?

The Regression to the Mean has Begun

by Bill Jacobs | May 31, 2021

A year ago, all of us in the business of fundraising were nervous. Lockdowns were taking place across the world, there were shortages of toilet paper and no one was sure how donors would respond. No one could have predicted that donors would respond in a such an...

December 31 Emails

by Bill Jacobs | Jan 7, 2021

This past year, we tracked email solicitations for both Giving Tuesday and December 31 (your can read about Giving Tuesday here: https://www.analyticalones.com/giving-spam-tuesday/). We wanted to compare these two critical days of email fundraising. Here are some...

Giving (SPAM) Tuesday

by Bill Jacobs | Dec 3, 2020

This year, the whole Analytical Ones’ team tracked our the number of emails we received from organizations, how many we received, our relationship with the organization (active donor, lapsed donor or new donor acquisition), and, when we received the email. Here is...