Give & Take

Is Altruism an Endangered Attribute? What if the “I” in “iPad” turned out to be Gordon “Greed is good” Gekko from the movie WALL STREET? While we don’t know if Gordon really has an iPad, we’re sure he’s out there, at least in spirit, because results from a recent survey of iPad owners by MyType seem to show that his real-world confreres make up a hefty proportion of those who have purchased this trendy new tech toy. Specifically, as reported by Eliot Van Buskirk in the 7/27/2010 edition of Wired.Com, the survey conducted this spring by MyType (a consumer research firm specializing in personality inventories) indicated that: “iPad owners tend to be wealthy, sophisticated, highly educated and disproportionately interested in business and finance, while they scored terribly in the areas of altruism and kindness. In other words, ‘selfish elites.’” The Opposite of a Donor Presumably individuals who self-report in such

We recently heard of a non profit mailing out its annual report with a notice inside that read “In an effort to keep our costs low and use our resources to provide more food, we have reduced the size of our Annual Report. Please go to our website for a list of donors, volunteers and community partners.”

Practice thinking like your prospect. Who are they? What do they care about? What are their hopes, fears, dreams? What are their deepest desires?

Age-Based Marketing isn’t just outdated—it’s brain-dead. Today’s 60-year-olds are launching businesses, not shuffling off to Florida in a golf cart. If you’re still segmenting donors by age, you’re marketing like it’s 1985. Planned giving requires intelligence, nuance, and relevance. Want real results? Stop guessing based on birthdates. Start targeting based on behavior, mindset, and motivation. Because nothing says “lazy fundraiser” like treating a 45-year-old entrepreneur like a retiree.

With the recent plunge in the value of investment portfolios, some chief financial officers and development professionals are wondering whether they should remain “in the business” of offering gift annuities to their donors.

Many development officers are wondering where to focus their efforts during these uncertain times. Whether times are good or bad, the answer may surprise you: It's planned giving.

People give when they are ready to give, not when you are ready to sell (i.e., "ask"). So, just because your lead is not ready to buy (donate) today, doesn't mean they aren't important. That's why we develop relationships.

Helping your donors meet the December 31 tax deadline means that you can plan on staying longer and doing more than just about everyone else — except for your office’s gifts processor.  So plan a nice rest in January (Isn’t there a planned giving conference in the Caribbean, then? There should be...) and get ready for the year-end sprint.

“Response rates from newsletters are down! Attendance at my annual seminar is way off...” fundraisers tell us.

It’s my experience that your audience is the single most powerful and most important element in the mix. If your marketing campaign is to get results, whether you use direct mail, print pieces, or e-mail, you must first make certain that the right audience is getting your message.  As I see it, finding the right audience determines 60 percent of the outcome.

In planned giving marketing, it's virtually impossible to guess direct mail response rates unless you've had a control group you've been experimenting with for years.