Shrinking Donor Base

There’s no substitute for experience

Problem/Opportunity:
An international relief and development ministry had experienced a five-year decline in their donor base while using three different agencies. The subsequent loss of income had forced the organization to cut ministry programs and stop aggressively pursuing new donor acquisition.

Successful Strategy:
First, Masterworks conducted a detailed examination of the ministry’s fundraising programs, thoroughly analyzing their donor file and review marketing strategies. This insight helped maximize their most effective strategies and identify efforts that should be eliminated or revised. We recommended and implemented a combination of new offers, variable messaging, advanced list segmentation and tailored asks and gift arrays to re-engage the struggling organization’s donor base.

Results:
After 12 months, the client experienced the following results:

• Overall donor retention increased by 61.5%
• The number of active donors increased by 12.4%
• Direct mail net income grew by $220,047 over the previous 12 months — an increase of 39.3%

Results were so positive that the client was able to make a significant commitment to new donor acquisition.