It's Not Too Late to Fundraise in 08!!!

Now more than ever, your organization needs funds- what better way to get them than from your committed donors- especially those that lapsed in the final months of 2008.

These donors, traditionally called LYBUNT (for Last Year But Unfortunately Not This year) is a goldmine for your organization to target. If they gave in 2007 but not in 2008, why didn't they respond? What is it temporary? Perhaps things have changed?

I have the fortune to be involved in several community organizations, and in one of them, I emailed them two weeks ago to target their LYBUNT donors. Since they use DonorPerfect Online, it was easy- simply create a filter where Last Year's Calendar Year Giving (2008) = 0 and 2 Years Ago Calendar Giving > 0.

(We use last year and 2 years ago because we are running this in 2009. If we use Current Calendar Year To Date, it would only include those donations this month in 2009- that's not what we want)

We then created a Word template and used the automatic-merge functionality in DonorPerfect and mailed the letters. We used a very emotional story soliciting funds from our once dedicated supporters.

The end result? Guilt works. We hit a home run and raised an additional 12% of our annual 2008 total that we would likely not receive in the future. Best of all, these donors became re-activated donors, ready to give again in the future.

So go ahead, blame the economy but DO something about it. Use the LYBUNT feature in your fundraising software (like DonorPerfect) to raise more money!

Top 10 Predictions for 2009

Wow, time flies when you are having a great year....

I just returned from a vacation for a week with my wonderful wife of exactly 10 years, Susan. My parents even watched our four children, so this was only the 3rd time in 10 years we've had time to ourselves- it was wonderful!

On vacation, I came up with a (somewhat) whimsical list of Top 10 Predictions for 2009:

1. Despite all the bad news, giving in the US will still grow in 2009 as more and more new donors, especially the young, will step up to the plate.
2. At least 2 new companies will enter the non-profit industry space with great fan-fair. Another 3 will quietly rethink their business model or completely go out of business.
3. Blackbaud will acquire another, smaller, fundraising software provider as it would appear that's the only way they can continue to grow. Don't worry, it's not us- we're stronger than ever!
4. We'll continue to receive RFP's from prospects that require us to fill out 97 pages of information and produce 15 hard copies, only to discover that the only vendor they could agree on manufactures solar-cells. The reason? No one else was 'green' enough and that was a requirement in the RFP.
5. Sometime in the summer of 2009, DonorPerfect will surpass the 10,000 client mark.
6. Speaking of 'Being Green', the International AFP conference will offer recycling in New Orleans.
7. DonorPerfect will acquire one or more competitors as the economy takes it's toll on the industry.
8. The term, "Social Networking Fundraising" will continue to generate great buzz, though it will account for exactly .0001% of all donations in 2009.
9. "Donor Raising", where donors connect and find other donors who are NOT their friends or family will become the next 'killer ap'.
10. And Finally...............Direct Mail and other forms of traditional fundraising will continue to account for 95% of all fundraising activities.

Here's to 2009! What are your predictions???