by Bill Jacobs | Mar 28, 2017 | Donor Acquisition
This may sound heretical, but counting donors isn’t as important as counting dollars. Here’s why: donors are not of equal value. For far too long in fundraising, there has been this assumption that “more donors are better.” This would be true...
by Bill Jacobs | Mar 8, 2017 | Direct Mail, nonprofit analytics
Somewhere over the rainbow in fundraising, two metrics were established as the gold standard: gross revenue generated and the number of donors acquired. And that’s a shame. It’s a shame because you can optimize these two metrics into organization ruin....
by Bill Jacobs | Dec 8, 2016 | Non-profit, volunteer satisfaction
This past year, my family and I have been volunteering for Lutheran Social Services to help refugees from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan relocate to Savannah. I admire the work that Lutheran Social Services does with refugees. It’s a huge job and they do so much with so...
by Bill Jacobs | Sep 14, 2016 | Agency, Direct Mail, nonprofit analytics
Any of us that have been in the fundraising agency business have had the following meeting a least a dozen times: There are a bunch of somber looking board of director types from the nonprofit organization in the main conference room. They distrust agencies. Unlike...
by Bill Jacobs | Jul 13, 2016 | Non-profit, nonprofit analytics
At Analytical Ones, we simplify all of our recommendations into three categories: Win (acquisition and reactivation); Lift (upgradation) and Keep (retention). If you study donor files, active donor counts peaked in 2008, at the cliff of the Great Recession. Though...