A Realistic Look at Annual Funds

Dynamic electronic databases replaced the static addressograph, making many new approaches possible. It took us from “Dear friend” to “Dear Sally and Joe.” Automated stuffing, live stamping and NCOA were factors. Analytics and modeling took us even further, and we began to gather more and more seemingly “trivial” information to drive better targeting. Some nonprofits were able to support their entire operations from annual giving. The sky seemed like the limit as we bought, rented and exchanged lists, and got better with the analytics, segmenting and targeting.