11 Proven Strategies to Jump-Start a Small Fundraising Program

The results spoke for themselves:

• More than three times the response rate of the acquisition mailing from the previous year.
• Acquired 680 new donors with a $64.37 average gift — this after reducing the ask string from $50 to $25).
• The strong acquisition results netted a profit of $14,649 for CGF when acquisition is typically an investment with an initial loss.
• Significantly increased the donor base.
• In renewal (using a pillar package with personal stories), donors responded with a 5.28 response rate and $86.53 average gift.

Lighthouse International
For Lighthouse International, its mature fundraising program was in decline. Due to a combination of inconsistent management of the direct-mail program in previous years, huge expansion in acquisition at great cost in 2005, and then the resulting acquisition program being halted while the renewal program was cut resulted in a dramatic loss of donors. Obviously, Lighthouse International was in desperate need of re-energizing its program.