An amazing response rate of 113% came from an organization’s upper donors to an annual appeal we mailed recently. Their 135 top donors responded with 153 gifts! Gifts from this group totaled $265,000, meaning every letter mailed to this group returned $1,962.
The organization is a well-established religious nonprofit that receives strong support, but they hadn’t been bonding with their upper donors. Their annual appeal traditionally mailed in one version to all donors with very little personalization. Since their upper donors are generous and committed, we suggested a special upper donor version of the letter be mailed with the person at the top hand-signing all 135 letters and adding personal notes that mentioned specifically the donor’s previous gift.
The unusually high response rate was also encouraged by a hand-signed thank you letter that mailed immediately after the gift was received.
The tremendous response is definite reinforcement of the need to pay extra attention to those who provide your greatest support. Make them feel as special and as important to your organization as they really are. They’ll respond!
