Thoughts for Today:

“The happiest people don’t necessarily have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything.”

“If you really want to do something you will find a way; if you don’t, you’ll find an excuse.”

“The Pessimist may be right in the long run, but the optimist has a better time during the trip.”

 


DONOR QUALIFYING

Effective fundraising is all about having the right information at the right time.  To insure the most effective use of our time, It helps to be able to categorize donors into particular market segments such as annual giving, estate planning prospects, major gifts and special events.

With the increase in data mining that is taking place via the internet, it is now possible to append critical information that can help us make those decisions.  For example, if I am working on an annual campaign I may want to append information such as “annual household income.”  If my emphasis is estate planning the areas I would like to add to my database would include items such as “net worth, annual income, and age.”  The same is true of each group within our database.

Many organizations have not realized that for a relatively small investment, they can add very important and sensitive data to their list management system.  Here are few categories that can be extremely helpful when added to our existing donor data:

  1. Age
  2. Income
  3. Homeowner
  4. Net Worth
  5. Religious / Political Donor
  6. Gender
  7. # of children at home
  8. Length of Residence
  9. Marital Status

 

Next time you are considering kicking off a capital campaign, or estate-planning program, think of how much time and energy you can save by appending this important information to your database.

Wheeler & Associates has developed a model to help you in this regard. For less than the cost of a postage stamp we can append this critical information to your donor database. For more information visit our website at www.donorgraphics.com

 


RULES FOR AN AIRTIGHT CAMPAIGN

Most of our work in the nonprofit community centers around “Campaigns.”  Whether it is a direct mail campaign, capital campaign, or estate planning program, there are some basic rules that we should always try to apply to our work with donors.  Listed below are a few of the guidelines that we have set in place to help us run more efficient campaigns.

  1. Don’t underestimate the importance of your donor data file.  25% of your list moves, dies, divorces or remarries every year.
  2. Following up with proven donors and volunteers to your organization is always more important than your efforts to get new donors.
  3. Knowing some basic things about your donor is every bit as important as knowing everything about your organization.
  4. Allow time for planning. It takes a minimum of 10 to 14 weeks to plan an implement an effective campaign.  Large campaigns will take longer.
  5. Thank you notes and responses to inquiries should be mailed or emailed within 24 hours.
  6. A well timed follow up letter will often create greater response than the initial event or mailing.
  7. Ask for referrals, this includes mail, events, or personal contact with donors.
  8. Offer donors different levels of giving:  Gold, Silver Bronze;  Donor, Patron, Member; etc.
  9. Offer donors different methods of giving:  credit cards, electronic funds transfer (eft), check or cash.
  10. More than 50% of your donations next year will come from current donors.  It cost five times as much to get new donors as it does to maintain current donors.

 


Content provided by:
Wheeler & Associates
100 Williamsburg Place
Franklin, TN 37064
(615) 427-8688
trentwheeler@comcast.net
www.donorgraphics.com