5 Keys to Prospecting on a Budget

If you have observed any industry data over the last six years or so, you also know that acquisition is getting continuously more difficult and more expensive. Since 2001, the number of nonprofit organizations that are competing for mind and wallet share continues to increase significantly (some estimates have it around a 45 percent to 50 percent increase), and the number of donors and total revenue have remained relatively flat. As a result, the pools are overfished and donors are saturated with acquisition requests and renewals. Yet, as organizations have tightened their belts over the last few years, one of the first budget items to go is the acquisition budget, largely because organizations historically have not been able to quantify the impact of acquisition on the immediate bottom line — it's a short-term money-losing proposition in the eyes of management.