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

“We decided to implement this quickly, instead of stepping in over a number of years, because we wanted to get people into our bonding and cultivation programs as quickly as possible, knowing that would drive the long-term value of the file,” he says.

The cost of such an aggressive effort? A2H spent $3 million to acquire 70,000 new donors in FY2003.