A Realistic Look at Annual Funds

This history, these progressing chapters — volunteers, direct mail, telemarketing — overlap each other and have long declining tails. But, though all continue to be used, their rises and declines are largely sequential and the history is pretty clear, if we pause to think it through. Mass solicitation is under a great deal of stress today.

The paradox: More is ALSO less
We, along with our trustee friend quoted earlier, are searching now for another new approach, the next technological chapter that will again vault annual giving to new heights. We’re turning our attention toward social media. (We almost skipped completely over e-mail, though it had some currency and is still used for ancillary purposes. But its impact was not especially notable — certainly not yet comparable to any of the big three: mail, telemarketing or volunteers.)