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

“Suddenly the individual side [of the program] had fallen far out of whack versus philanthropy overall,” Delany says. “A lot of organizations never reach the 75 percent mark for individual giving, but we didn’t want it to be this low; it was close to only 20 percent.

“We wanted to get things balanced again,” he adds. “Corporate and foundation gifts are great. But they’re more project specific and, if they’re time sensitive, once that goes away, you need more balance.