Top 10 Direct Mail Fundraising Myths - Part 4

By Wayne Gurley
President & Creative Director

Myth # 4: You will offend your donors if you ask for more than one gift a year.

This is known as the “Curse of the Annual Giving Program.”

Annual giving programs are built on “one-gift wonders” - donors who only make one gift annually to an organization.

It is perpetuated by those who only ask for one gift per year and only expect one gift per year.

These people are involved in what I call “fundraising malpractice.”

These days, you want an environment whereby multiple gifts over the course of a year can be cultivated. If you do this, your donor attrition rate will be lower and you’ll have many more planned gift prospects.

Don’t assume you’ll offend donors by asking more than once a year. If they’re that easily offended, they’re not a true donor anyway. So code them in your system to receive only one appeal.

And go ahead and ditch the “Annual Giving” concept. Instead, call it something like “Current Giving.”

Current giving is “today…now…in the moment.” Not “once a year.”

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