Thoughtful, well-executed upgrade campaigns will get the job done without scaring off your most loyal donors.

By Jerry Huntsinger

Also, you can circle the upgrade figure and draw an arrow to the note. But, alas, both of these time-honored techniques have come under suspicion in recent years. Perhaps they are just too mechanical and obvious. So you’d better test.

Also, test just putting a single dollar amount on the reply form. Will that depress results? Probably not. If the amount is too high, the donor will write a check for a lesser amount. But that lesser amount might be higher than it would have been without the suggestion of a higher amount.