Special Report: Multi-channel Fundraising

McPherson says organizations should move beyond traditional, initiative-based, cost-benefit evaluation and look instead at the dollar revenues divided by the dollar cost as a percentage to determine the percent return.

“What we are encouraging organizations to do is to take a look at segments or groups of donors and the total cost of communicating by all channels to them and the total giving by that same group, regardless of the channel,” McPherson says. “So if we make a phone call to you, send you three e-mails and send you a mailing, we know how much all of that costs and we can know how much you gave regardless of the channel that you chose to respond by.