Don't Freeze, Don't Panic: Advice for Surviving Turbulent Times

By Abny Santicola

Analytical and financial
The organization's key goals were to:

Cut costs without sacrificing revenue. It used a less expensive format than what was projected for a spring special appeal; cut a small amount from its acquisition budget (cutting worst-performing lists); eliminated one sustainer invitation, moving those eligible names into a future invite; and eliminated a reinstatement mailing and moved lapsed names to an acquisition drop.
Focus on stabilization. It made retention a priority, doing extensive ask-string testing ("keeping a donor now is more important than upgrading them," Spitz-Nagrotsky said); increased the number of drops in acquisition so it could mail its core list more often; did reinstatement telemarketing, phoning lapsed donors and adding 500 additional active members; and focused on converting members to multiple channels to increase loyalty and retention.
Know its coverage ratio. How many new donors does it need to acquire? How many donors does it need to reactivate? What is its retention rate? How many donors will lapse? The organization's coverage-ratio model helped it plan its budget for next year.
Model its house file for mailing efficiently. AU created a predictive model for 0-to-48-month active and lapsed members. It categorized donors into tiers using indicators that would predict their performance and help it determine how many contacts they should receive from the organization. Spitz-Nagrotsky said now the organization will use the model to select members for special appeals, raising more money and spending less to do so.

Next steps
Spitz-Nagrotsky said there are things that are going to get better, and it's the job of all fundraisers to figure out where those things are going to emerge. Americans United plans to:

Continue the conversation. Articulating its mission and issues to donors and potential donors, and continuing to use its program and communications staff for message development.
Analyze, analyze, analyze. The organization knows the importance of acting quickly on things that work, as well as those that don't. Flexibility and the ability to change course if the climate or issues warrant also are goals for AU.
Use modeling and other tools for efficiencies.

Spitz-Nagrotsky said her mother used to make fundraising calls for her local Jewish federation, and what she did is what nonprofits need to be doing (and what Americans United is doing):