America’s Second Harvest’s new direct-marketing approach yields ‘remarkable results’ and proves that donors are hungry for more intimate relationships with nonprofits.

By Margaret Battistelli Gardner

“It’s hard to do as technology for this is expensive and will take time to leverage savings, but I want to make sure that we honor the donor’s wishes before they have to tell us about them,” she says. “Giving patterns and demographic information can tell us so much about what someone’s preference might be. More and more we’re learning that asking is as much about listening as anything else.