easiersaidthandone: The Curse of Too Much Mail

The damage you'll do by applying the needs of a few too-much-mail folks to your entire program can be deep and wide. There's the revenue you'll lose in the short term because you asked less. Then there's the long-term damage to your donor file because of falling retention rates.

But here's what should really make your blood run cold: If you accept the premise that your fundraising is annoying, painful, stupid and unwelcome — you will make it so. It's a classic self-fulfilling prophecy, the not-so-well-kept secret of creative work: Your attitude bleeds through onto the paper.