Raising Money Isn’t Cheap and Other Rules for Effective Fund Raising

Baltimore

Raising money in tough times isn’t cheap, and it’s sometimes counterintuitive.

Those were two of the messages from Jonathon Grapsas, a consultant at Pareto Fundraising, in Toronto, during his speech at the Association of Fundraising Professionals conference here.

Among his rules for improving fund-raising results:

Stop using “return on investment” as a key measure. If fund raisers focus too narrowly on how much they raise per dollar spent, they can miss out on more expensive fund-raising efforts that could ultimately bring in major cash for their organizations, according to Mr. Grapsas.

Don’t sacrifice long-term returns for short-term gains. Mr. Grapsas described an animal shelter that invested in planned gifts when it was facing a budget crisis; today, 1,700 of its 32,000 donors have committed to giving in a bequest compared with just 98 donors six years earlier. He also talked about a charity that decided to skip one year of mailings to acquire new donors; years later, Mr. Grapsas said the group is still suffering as a result of that decision.

Recognize that efforts to recruit donors aren’t cheap. It can take a few years for more-expensive ways to win new donors to pay off, but generally they earn a charity more money over the long run, Mr. Grapsas said.

Focus on monthly giving. “This has transformed the way we fund raise in every single country except the one we’re standing in today,” he told the group of mostly American fund raisers. Mr. Grapsas’s group studied 14 charities in Canada and found that, during the heart of the recession last year, their monthly giving programs grew by 10 percent.

Use data cleverly to make informed decisions. For example, knowledge about how long to wait after someone makes a gift before asking them to join a monthly giving program—about four to six weeks, according to Mr. Grapsas—can yield better results, he said.

Avoid distraction. “Really good, solid, robust fund raising is about being incredibly disciplined about what you do,” he said.

Look after donors. He emphasized to fund raisers the importance of writing warm thank-you letters, of keeping mailings personal, and of asking donors for their ideas. As examples, he pointed to mailings that ask donors how much communication they like from a charity, or the reason they first contributed.