Ask for less

All too often we hear people complain about the low level givers on their database – they are poorly performing ‘segments’, not viable, not cost-effective, not worth mailing.

Rubbish.

Say their last gift was £3. Instead of pushing them to increase by making your first prompt start at £5, think about making them feel their gift is still valued and important, by prompting at less than their previous gift – say £2.

For your donor, instead of thinking you are after an almost fifty per cent increase from their last gift (making their last gift of £3 feel a bit pointless), you are showing that they can and do make a difference.

Our client that developed this theory has increased response to over twenty per cent from this group, and increased the average gift by forty per cent.