4 Keys to Justifying Donor Acquisition to Your CFO/CEO/Board

The next step after you do finally get the go-ahead for donor acquisition is to manage expectations. To do that, McManus said, it’s vital to agree on what the reasonable expectations are from the beginning because “you can only manage what’s already been agreed to.”

This can be a challenging step, McManus admitted. Traditionally, CRS’ acquisition program has aimed for $30-$40 average donors. In order to responsibly manage the increased budget and accomplish the goal of bringing in more donors, CRS probably needs to bend its criteria and be more flexible with the type of donors it brings in. So it may look to bring in $15 donors and then cultivate them into higher-value donors.