Find out which fundraising efforts the judges chose as best of show in our 2006 Gold Awards for Fundraising Excellence.

By Margaret Battistelli Gardner

From the organization’s point of view, the answer addresses a triple challenge faced by many nonprofits.

“First, successful premium packages are too easy to copy by others who target the exact same audience, diluting overall effectiveness,” wrote Ellen Cobb Church, executive vice president at Craver, Mathews, Smith & Co., who submitted the package. “Second, bringing up a new donor with a premium can create premium dependency for future gifts; and, third, the higher the perceived value of the premium, the more generous the donor.