The American Diabetes Association has fundraising down to an art and a science

By Margaret Battistelli Gardner

“Not too long before I came, the organization didn’t raise money, it accepted it,” she explains. “I tried to look at the bigger picture. Fundraising became a high priority.

“You can send direct mail pieces, go after major gifts, ask someone to put you in their will or take part in a walk,” she says. “We came to see that the same person can do all these things and be happy to do them. But it takes some organization. It’s no good to send gift-annuity or planned-giving pieces to a 45-year-old; there are more efficient uses of fundraising time and energy.”