A kinder, back-to-basics approach to donor relations amounted to a 30 percent increase in contributions for D.C.’s Heritage Foundation.

By Margaret Battistelli Gardner

“What we learned is that there are large untapped resources in our donor base,” Walter says.

Through August 2003, those numbers included a 30 percent increase over the historic norm for conversion rates of new members to multiyear members and a marginal increase, about 5 percent, in the renewal rate of multiyear members. Given the fact that the average gift also increased, the cumulative figure is up “significantly.”