A new strategy helps Mothers Against Drunk Driving revive its stagnant fundraising, recommit to its missin and invigorate its staff and volunteers.

By Margaret Battistelli Gardner

Heard is quick to point out that even with a new emphasis on major and planned gifts, MADD won’t forget the approach that got it to where it is.

“Direct marketing is still our workhorse, and we’ve got to keep it strong because it feeds memorial giving, bequests and major gifts. But we’re working now to 1) make sure we’re doing all we can with our direct-marketing program; and 2) testing, testing, testing and re-testing. In addition to working with our direct-mail vendor, we still recruit and bring in other vendors to test against them.”