Medical Center Gets Repeat Donations by Sending Anniversary Cards to Mark a Year After 1st Gift

Loma Linda University Health is celebrating an anniversary with more than 2,500 of its donors this year, sending them a card marking a year since they first gave to the California higher-education and hospital system. The anniversary card is part of Loma Linda’s new efforts to encourage first-time donors to keep giving, year after year.

Loma Linda, which raised nearly $22-million last year, has had many successful fundraising efforts, but a couple of years ago it realized that roughly two out of every three first-time donors did not give again the following year. Over all, the institution was losing about four out of every 10 donors each year.

To improve donor loyalty, the health-care system increased its use of mailed materials, which included sending the anniversary cards this year. Last year, those first-time donors got a distinctive thank-you card. It listed their gifts as a “memorable first” for the institution, along with other notable first-time achievements such as the institution’s founding and key medical discoveries by its researchers.

This year, those who gave in 2013 will also get a newly designed impact report, a sort of packet of flashcards, listing how their money is making a difference at each of Loma Linda’s eight schools and six hospitals.

“When we saw the significant number of people who didn’t make a second gift or just dropped off at some point, we knew we had to make changes,” says Janya M. Mekelburg, Loma Linda’s director of alumni and donor relations. “We are trying to really speak to our donors through these new communications.”

Share of donors in 2011 who also gave in 2012: 59%

Share of new donors in 2011 who also gave in 2012: 32%

Goal: Improve the share of new donors who give again by at least two or three percentage points this year; eventually increase the overall rate of repeat donors to 85 to 88 percent

Behind the results: Creative donor mailings