It's commonly assumed that major donors are radically unlike direct mail donors and therefor sending them direct mail (or fundraising email) will be a disaster that will annoy them and drive them and their large donations away forever.
Is this true?
If it isn't, a lot of organizations are making a grave mistake with their major donors.
Check out this important post at the Veritus Blog: Direct Response and Major Gifts -- Does It Work?
The short answer: You absolutely should send your major donors direct mail and email.
First reason: The huge majority of high-end donors start as low-end direct-response donors. They are on your list because your direct mail worked for them.
Second reason: Many of these donors don't want a personal relationship with a person at your organization. The power of that relationship is just not going to work for them.
There are only two valid reasons for not including a major donor in your direct-response fundraising:
- The donor specifically asks you to stop mailing or e-mailing appeals.
- Your relationship with the donor has developed to a place where direct-response communication has become truly redundant.
A not valid reason: We think they might be annoyed by our direct mail.
Don't guess. Know before you change whether you mail or not.
Here's the interesting part: The best way to cultivate major donors is to have a major gift officer connect with them personally and to send them mail and email:
When you take either out of the equation, you see a drop in revenue.
Deciding for your donors what they want can be a financially devastating mistake.
