Focus On: Lists: Prospecting Lists that Work

FS: How aggressive do you need to be in your direct mail fundraising efforts to maintain and grow your file? What’s your timeframe for recouping those acquisition costs?
MB: We would like to be more aggressive, but limited list universes and increasing duplication are definitely factors affecting growth. Constant testing and model development are imperative to maintaining file size. Some resources have been shifted to focus on donor retention and lapsed-donor reactivation. Donor segments with no gifts in the past four to six years have been successfully reactivated with renewal rates equal to or exceeding those of newly acquired donors.