Focus On: Lists: Prospecting Lists that Work

Shawn McKenna, director, individual gifts program, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, headquartered in New York City

FundRaising Success: What percent of your organization’s donor acquisition mailings typically go to other nonprofit lists, general consumer-response lists, compiled lists, etc.?
Shawn McKenna: We mail 100 percent to response lists. I have tested various catalogs and subscriber lists with some success. We focus our list selection around the idea of concentric circles extending outward from the target with the center of the bull’s-eye being our primary lists, and moving out from there to other response lists, then to compiled lists; however, we don’t mail to any compiled lists at this time.