Data Mining

Imagine a school fundraising letter so personlized that it contains a quote not from just any teacher at the school, but rather from your child’s teacher. Or both your children’s different teachers. A letter that also went to the Joneses down the street, but with quotes from the Jones kids’ teachers.

Variable data imaging allows mailers to create mail pieces with different, often highly personalized text and images; its use so far has been mostly by for-profit mailers for high-value direct-mail campaigns, bills, statements and invoices. But Sarasota, Fla.-based private school The Out-of-Door Academy took a shot with it and found great success.

We all remember our favorite teachers: those men and women who shaped our lives by giving us the encouragement we needed to feel good about ourselves, to try harder and achieve more. These are priceless charitable gifts that last a lifetime. So why are teachers largely ignored by fundraising groups?

Children are starving, but the show must go on. And if you're raising money to support a symphony, how do you convince donors that they should not only give to your cause — perhaps in lieu of helping hungry children — but also feel good about it? 

While most faith-based organizations focus on social service, community development or health case, etc., the mission of the National Catholic Development Conference is fundraising itself — fundraising done in an ethical, professional way to benefit the organizations that operate within the religious community.

If there were to be crowned a Richard Simmons of nonprofit fundraising in the United States, ASPCA Senior Vice President of Development and Communications Jo Sullivan just might fill those sequined short-shorts.

Four Characteristics of Senior Givers Four Characteristics of Senior Givers March 28, 2006 By Abny Santicola, editor, FundRaising Success Advisor Most nonprofit development professionals know that older donors like to give via direct mail. But what are some other traits of this massive donor demographic? In a recent conversation, Harvey McKinnon, president of Harvey McKinnon Associates, a donor-relationship consultancy based out of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, shared some of the other giving nuances common to senior donors. 1) Seniors are prime candidates for monthly giving. Electronic pledge programs where people give, say, $25 a month to a charity are an easy sell

Women Donors: Stereotypes Uprooted FS Advisor: March 28, 2006 By Abny Santicola, editor, FundRaising Success Advisor Throw away the old stereotypes you’ve heard about women donors -- that they give less than men or aren’t willing to part with their money at all. The characteristics of women donors are changing, says Donna P. Hall, executive director of Menlo Park, Calif.-based Women Donors Network, a national organization of progressive women philanthropists who give at least $25,000 a year to charity. In a recent conversation, Hall highlighted some of the traits of women donors, emphasizing that while she doesn’t like to compare women to men, there

No other donor demographic is more over-discussed and overrated than age.

As fundraisers, we’re obsessed with our donors’ average ages, even though there’s little we can do to push this figure up or down.

Wars are being waged; natural disasters are wreaking havoc; people are living in poverty; and children continue to be abused. In these troubling times, international- and domestic-relief agencies and social-service nonprofits have their work cut out for them. The need is disturbingly obvious.

There were 13.2 million black households in the United States in 2001,constituting 12.4 percent of all households in the country. Within these households, income, wealth and charitable giving have risen at a steady rate in recent years.

This according to “Wealth Transfer Estimates Among African-American Households,” a recently released report by researchers at the Boston College Center on Wealth and Philanthropy, authored by Paul Schervish and John Havens.