Climbing Back Up After a Difficult Fund-Raising Start

Compiled by Nicole Lewis and Elizabeth Schwinn

Clare O’Connell, director of development, Appalachian Mountain Club (Boston)

How do 2003 donations to date compare with 2002?

Donations are 4 percent ahead of last year.

What’s the prognosis for end-of-year appeals?

Even with 2002.

Has the recent positive economic news had any impact on fund raising?

We got hammered in February and March when we went out in the mail during the war and economic slump, but

we are getting better responses now. We’ve also had a positive turn in membership numbers: From the beginning of September to October 31 we had a 2-percent growth in members — people who pay at least $40 annually — for a total of just under 93,000. Membership fees help us maintain more than 1,400 miles of trails, promote environmental education, and support conservation projects in the Northeast.

What fund-raising techniques are proving most successful?

We completed a $33-million capital campaign last December and we’ve converted a lot of campaign donors to annual-fund donors. We invited anyone who had given $1,000 or more to the capital campaign to attend one of 10 regional lunches held by our executive director. During lunch we talked to them about what their gifts to the campaign enabled us to do, and showed slides of projects we were working on. After the event we sent attendees a solicitation letter asking them to make a gift of $1,000 or more to the annual campaign. About 165 people attended the lunches and 40 percent of them went on to make an annual gift.

What hasn’t worked well?

Direct-mail solicitations and telemarketing responses are lower than projected. We are definitely being affected by the publicity around the federal do-not-call registry. Even though it does not affect us directly, we are hearing that workers at our calling centers are getting a lot of flak from potential donors saying, “Oh, I registered with the do-not-call list.” Direct mail and telemarketing are pretty tired as fund-raising methods, but we don’t have a good idea of what will replace them.

What is the most important step you’ve taken to stimulate end-of-year giving?

We’ve received pledges of $200,000 from five board members and another donor with the condition that we use the money to spur additional large donations. The money will go to match all new donations of $1,000 and up, as well as additional donations from people who have previously given at least $1,000.

We’ve sent out a solicitation letter to potential $1,000 donors and also publicized the challenge in three issues of our donor newsletter.

What’s your prediction for 2004?

Five-percent growth if the economy stays the same; if it improves, we are going to beat those numbers.