2013 Fundraising Stars

As a result, the first newsletter outperformed the results of the entire previous year’s three newsletters, Hodde says. In 2011, the newsletter mailings grossed $53,282 through 570 gifts with an average gift size of $93.48. The newsletter drew an average of 1.09 gifts per donor.

In 2012, after making the changes to the package, the newsletters grossed $338,487 with an average gift of $113.43 — a 21 percent increase in the size of the average gift. Donors increased the frequency of their giving to an average of 1.25 gifts per donor, and the total number of gifts from the mailings more than quadrupled.