If any organization has the gumption to go after major donors via direct mail, the Web and telemarketing, it would be NARAL Pro-Choice America. It did, and it’s working.

By Abny Santicola

Building a program that yields sustainable growth required an organizational recognition of the reality of donor churn and a commitment to educating the board and its leadership that a membership organization’s strength lies in a robust acquisition program. NARAL Pro-Choice America maintains a fairly low per-donor investment, thanks mostly, Donahue says, to the success of reinstatement efforts on its housefile of deeply lapsed donors and non-donor online activists, which come in at such a low net investment that the organization still has the means to run acquisition efforts on tertiary lists.