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

The first reason can be somewhat nebulous. Because Heritage produces some 200 research papers and 200 more products for the Web alone each year, supporters seldom can keep up with every issue. Hence, belief in the cause is often “self-defining,” Walter says. Members are happy so long as their perception is that the foundation continues to further its overall mission, which is to “build an America where freedom, opportunity, prosperity and civil society flourish.”