Here’s why donors won’t let you forget about freebies.

By Paul Barbagallo

Komen has tested calendars, notepads and breast-health information cards as front-end freebies, but not one has outperformed the name-and-address labels.

Use of incentives on the rise
In calendar year 2002, the Archive logged approximately 2,306 fundraising mailings. Of that total, 214 (9 percent) included or offered a premium. But in calendar year 2003, the Archive logged 1,852 fundraising mailings, with 420 (23 percent) offering premiums.