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

By Paul Barbagallo

Gary Kline, president and CEO of SCA Direct, a Fairfax, Va.-based direct marketing consultancy serving the nonprofit sector, advises organizations that are contemplating premium-based campaigns to first explore the economics and how such incentives will effect net revenues.

“Typically, a well-run, premium-based acquisition program is going to get three to four times the number of donors than a well-run, non-premium-based acquisition program,” Kline affirms. “And if you only get a quarter of the scale with a non-premium program, you have to determine what type of long-term value you need to achieve.”