Will You Stand Out in 2013?

As the year comes to a close, I have been thinking about "why." Why is donor acquisition less effective than it was in the past? Why are so many first-time donors failing to give again? And why are once-faithful donors no longer giving?
On the one hand, we have so many more ways to communicate with our donors than we did even 15 years ago. E-mail has made communication much less expensive, and reporting back to donors can be almost instantaneous and filled with photos to "prove" our words.