11 Proven Strategies to Jump-Start a Small Fundraising Program

For starters, CGF hired a third-party direct-response fundraising agency partner. Then it embarked on new acquisition list strategies, which had a dramatic impact on response, and implemented new creative, frequency and timing approaches to boost acquisition and renewal.

As a result, CGF increased acquisition mail volume by 73 percent from 140,000 direct mailers in 2009 to 243,000 last year and mailed at different times of the year to avoid the “all eggs in one basket” scenario. CGF also increased the number of renewal mailings from six to seven and increased mail volume by 800 percent. The thinking there was that the increased frequency and volume would keep donors aware of CGF, make sure the organization was hitting donors when they were ready to respond and help CGF reap the harvest of year-end giving. In both acquisition and renewal, CGF incorporated personalization, continual testing and multichannel integration.