A stagnant annual-giving program prompted changes to how City of Hope approaches donor cultivation and acquisition that, in many ways, defy conventional fundraising wisdom.

By Abny Santicola

But Merkle told her she wasn’t thinking about it correctly.

“They said, ‘You have such an opportunity for creating a real relationship with your donors, yet you’re only telling them about yourself once a month. You have so much to offer here that you could be talking to them a lot more, and they would not get tired of listening to you,’” Keim says.