1.   What kind of response and average gift can I expect from a fund-raising acquisition mailing?
Usually, you can expect a 1-2% response from an acquisition effort, although you may experience a higher, or lower response rate, depending on the audience and suggested gift ask.  If the suggested gift ask is high, you will get a low response.  If it is lower -- or a more "reasonable" ask -- you will get a higher response.  Your objective is a combination of the highest possible response and average gift.  This can only be achieved through careful testing and analysis.  Depending on the organization and the ask, a typical average gift can range between $15 and $25. 

2.   What kind of response and average gift can I expect from a donor mailing?
Response from active donors (gifts within the last 12 months) is typically in the 5% - 15% range, although -- as with prospect mailings -- it can be higher or even lower.  Lapsed donor response (no gift in the last 12 months) can range between 3% - 5%, although it can be lower or higher.  Average gifts can range wildly from a low of $25 to well over $100.  Again, a lot depends on the organization and how the file was built.  If it was built through direct mail and there is no upper level giving club, the average gift will probably be lower.  If it was built via personal solicitation, the average gifts will be much higher.

3.  How many times a year should I solicit my donors?
It depends on the kind of annual donor renewal rate you want.  If you can renew 60% - 80% of  your donors with one appeal annually, then by all means just conduct one mailing each year.  But if it takes you two, three, four or more appeals to accomplish this, then you will need to mail much more frequently.  Of course, you must first determine your annual attrition rate.  Allegiant Direct can help you with this analysis.  Just give us a call, or complete our on-line FREE REPORTS page.  A lot of times, mailing frequency depends on the type of organization.  Most hospitals mail at least twice each year in the spring and fall, and some solicit as frequently as 4 - 6 times annually.  (This does not include informational mailings such as newsletters or planned giving promotions.)  If your organization is a ministry, you may wish to mail more frequently, perhaps as often as 6-8 times a year, or perhaps 10-12 times annually.  Most ministry donors are accustomed to giving to their church on a weekly basis, so more frequent solicitations are not uncommon.  We once worked for an organization (a ministry) that solicited certain segments of its file every two weeks.  So, the gamut can range from frequent to infrequent.  However, keep in mind that an infrequent mailing schedule will usually yield infrequent giving from your donors.  And if you aren't soliciting your donors regularly, chances are someone else is.

4.  What names should I solicit?
Obviously, donors -- both active and lapsed -- are your best candidates, followed by prospect, in the form of in-house or outside lists.  If you are a hospital, you can solicit former patients, with certain privacy considerations. Additionally, outside rented lists available for one-time use also can be successful for you.  Such lists include affinity-related donor lists, publication subscriber lists and certain demographic lists.  (However, be very careful of demographic lists as they typically do not work very well.)  You also can solicit vendors, employees and volunteers, though response from these lists can be "hit and miss."  If you have any kind of in-house senior list, these work well, too.  Be wary of mailing to memorial donors, as they do not perform well, either.

5.  How long should a letter be?
A letter should be long as it needs to be and no longer.  If you can do the job in one page, by all means do it.  However, if a story or appeal requires more space to tell or explain, take the additional space.  Typically, a health care appeal can get by with a 1-page letter, or perhaps two pages at the most.  However, a children's home or social service agency almost always requires multiple pages (usually two and sometimes four).  Ministries and environmental organizations seem to need between 2 or 4 pages to tell their stories.  If you're unsure, you can always test copy length.  Don't rely on someone else's opinion (even yours) to predetermine copy length.  Let your audience be the judge of how much copy they prefer.

6.  Do I really need a P.S.?
Testing has shown that -- after the name, address and signature -- the P.S. is one of the most viewed elements in a direct mail letter.  Some studies show that 30 percent of people read the P.S. first.  For this reason, it's important to have a good P.S., one that restates the offer and makes it clear what you want the respondent to do.  Often, a person will look at the P.S. before deciding to read the letter. So if the P.S. isn't strong, they may not give your copy a chance.

7.  I'm interested in trying rented lists.  Which ones are the best?
Allegiant Direct has found that the best lists for fund raising are those comprised of donors who have made gifts via direct mail to similar organizations in your area -- such as donors to organizations like March of Dimes, Cystic Fibrosis or Muscular Dystrophy, to name a few.  Second best would be subscriber lists to publications like Time, Newsweek, Prevention or city and regional magazines in your area (like Texas Monthly).  You may wish to try consumer catalog buyer lists like Harry & David or Sharper Image.  However, under no circumstances should you purchase a demographic list such as wealthy homeowners from the most affluent zip codes in your area.  These names almost always perform poorly. 

8.  What letter topics work best?
In general, the best letter topics are those that illustrate the work of the organization in am  interesting or dramatic fashion, and also explain clearly how a donors funds will be used.  If possible, a deadline is also helpful to encourage a prompt response.  For hospitals, cancer topics usually always work the best, following by heart themes. For hospices and children's homes, human interest stories tend to work best.

9.  I'm in hospital development, and I'm interested in soliciting former patients.  Is this allowed by HIPAA, and if so, what selection criteria should I use?
Solicitation of former patients is absolutely allowed by HIPAA -- which is short for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.  Your only requirement is to include "opt-out" language in your fund-raising package which provides details on how a patient can choose to have their name removed from future mail solicitations.  When selecting a patient file, you cannot pull by diagnosis -- for example, all cancer patients or all heart patients.  But you can exclude certain diagnoses and patient types, such as psychiatry patients, juveniles, childbirth (due to the age of the patient or guarantor), as well as certain insurance designations like Medicaid (however, Medicare is OK), plus with CHAMPUS military insurance.  (This is not an exhaustive list of exclusions, so if you would like additional information, please write us at welcome@allegiantdirect.com for a complete list.  Regarding patients selects, most patients under 50 years of age do not respond very well to direct mail appeals.  You should determine if your 50-64 age group is responsive enough to include in future efforts by testing them at least once.  Your best patient age groups will be those in the 65+ category.  Discharge date is also important.  The more recent patient discharges always perform better.  Allegiant Direct recommends segmenting patient files by 0-6 month, 6-12 month, 12-18 month, and 18-24 month groups.  Sometimes, an organization can mail further from discharge -- for example, 24-36 months -- but this is the exception rather than the rule.

10.  Will I make money on my acquisition mailing?
A few organizations are able to generate net income on their acquisition or prospect mailings, but only a few.  Keep in mind that the purpose of acquisition is to generate or "purchase" a new donor that will hopefully continuing to give to your organization for the next several year.  Normally, organizations pay for their cost of acquiring a new donors on the 2nd, 3rd and subsequent solicitations.  Then those new donors are on their way to achieving a desired "Long Term Value."  You should be willing to lose money on your acquisition acquisition efforts, within reason, up to $2 - $3 cost per dollar raised. 

11.  Should I consider creating a giving club or membership program for my organization?
Giving clubs are excellent ways of helping identify donors who want to be more involved with the mission of your organization.  They also are good vehicles for providing much-needed donor recognition as well as helping to identify planned giving prospects.  Donors who also are "members" perform at a much higher level of response and average gift in response to direct mail appeals than other donors who do not participants in such a program.

12.  Should I send first-time donors anything in addition to a thank you letter/receipt?  If so, what should I send and when?
In most cases, new donors responding to your organization’s message for the very first time consider their gift an “audition.” They want to know how you are going to treat them before making gift #2.  It’s important to thank the donor appropriately and in a timely fashion. Allegiant Direct recommends sending a thank-you letter out within 24 hours of receiving a donor’s gift.  Depending on the size of your organization, you’ll want to consider having someone personally call and thank those who make a gift of a certain size, say $100, $250 or more.  Allegiant Direct also recommends the creation of a "Welcome Package" which is designed to follow the thank-you package by about two weeks.  The "Welcome Package" contains a letter, brochure discussing various giving opportunities at your organization, as well as -- if desired -- the AFP "Donor Bill of Rights."  (Check this out at the following link:  AFP Donor Bill of Rights.)

More FAQ's to come later...