A Wealth of Opportunity
A Wealth of Opportunity
March 28, 2006
By Abny Santicola, editor, FundRaising Success Advisor
Ah, wealthy donors. There isn't an organization in existence that wouldn't want a house file full of them. But did you ever consider that maybe yours already is?
Carsten Walter, director of membership programs at Washington, D.C.-based conservative research and educational think tank The Heritage Foundation, says his organization has cultivated most of its high-dollar donors up through its regular direct-marketing program.
"This is the largest source of future major donors," Walter says. "Sixty percent of our $10,000+ donors started out as regular direct-mail donors."
The organization, he adds, includes a menu of different giving levels and benefits in select house-file and prospect appeals every year that allow donors to move themselves up the giving pyramid.
In terms of donor cultivation, Walter says that once a donor makes a $1,000 gift he or she is contacted by a regional manager and the process of building a one-on-one relationship begins.
"One of the goals of this process is to measure the donor's interest and/or potential for making a larger gift," he says. "The actual language of the solicitations does not differ much from the direct-marketing language, but we do increase the level of personalization and production quality of the letters. The solicitations continue to offer opportunities for donors to increase their support to higher levels of giving. If justified, we will tailor individual proposals to solicit larger gifts."
Another successful strategy for netting wealthy donors is introductions from current large donors, Walter says.
"One of the hardest ways to solicit large gifts is through cold calling," he adds. "The key issue in this case is that the potential donor does not have an established relationship with you, making the solicitation that much harder."
Walter's No. 1 piece of advice: "Look at your own donor base first. You might be surprised by the potential that already exists among your supporters."
Carsten Walter can be reached via http://www.heritage.org
