I have been analyzing the fundraising business for nearly three decades and over the years I keep seeing nonprofit organizations making the same mistakes. These errors hold organizations back.
If you are new to fundraising, please commit yourself to avoiding these five errors. Your organization probably won’t thank you. But you and I will both know that you are secretly saving your organization.
Number 2: Not Mailing Major Donors.
Organizations have this belief they need to “protect” their best donors from receiving their direct mail appeals. So, major donors are regularly given “no-mail” flags on their accounts.
Now, the intent is noble: “We have a Major Gift Officer assigned to cultivate a one-to-one relationship with that donor and we don’t want that junk mail interfering with that.”
But what I have seen far too often is this: For one reason or another (usually due to MGO turnover) the organization fails to cultivate a one-to-one relationship and that donor is forgotten and receives zero communication with the organization . . . and thus never sends in another check.
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Again and again. Over and over.
So, if I may suggest, allow your major donors to receive your direct mail appeals. The risk is far too great not to.