December 22, 2009 | Read Time: 1 minute
At many colleges and other nonprofit institutions, the number of people who donated to annual funds —and the amount they donate — has been dropping.
Fund raisers at those institutions worry about how to recover once-loyal donors. If alumni “give for three years and then skip a year, it is hard to get them back,” says Jeffrey Lindauer, director of the annual fund at Indiana University Foundation where the number of annual-fund donors has declined. “I’m not sure people will come back naturally,” Mr. Lindauer says.
At Georgetown University, some annual-fund donors have been coaxed back into the fold this year with a brand-new appeal.
The solicitation allows donors to “buy back” any years that they have missed giving to the annual fund for $25 per year. That enables them to restore a record of unbroken giving – -and to join or be reinstated into a giving club for loyal donors.
So far, 175 donors have bought back 350 years, says Kyle McGowan, senior director of the Georgetown annual fund. “People really like to be recognized for loyalty,” he says.
The appeal is helping to drive up giving. While the average gift to the annual fund is the same size as last year, Mr. McGowan says, Georgetown is ahead in the number of donors, with about 500 more alumni making annual-fund contributions this year compared with 2008.
