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Dear Ohdeuk, These are busy times! My best-selling book, How to Write Successful Fundraising Letters, will be reissued this month in a revised and expanded new edition, complete with a CD-ROM chock full of examples . . . and my publisher, Jossey-Bass, has agreed to make a special, pre-publication offer. If you place your order through this newsletter, you’ll be among the very first to receive your copy—and you’ll pay 20% off the price! Click here to take advantage of this one-time-only offer. (You’ll find the discounted price on the order page, not directly at the link.) Meanwhile, this is the month that the Resource Alliance 2008 Online Seminar Series goes live. My brilliant friend Bernard Ross leads off on March 6 with 90 minutes on Successful Solicitation Techniques. I’m next in line on March 13 with Raise More Money with High-Impact Communications: Latest Insights from the Fields of Marketing and Communications. Click here to take part in one or more of these groundbreaking online events. Meanwhile, enjoy this newsletter! Cheers, mal 1. Online best practices By Tom Gaffny   At the 2008 DMA Nonprofit Conference in Washington DC, late in January, Epsilon Executive Vice President Tom Gaffny delivered an extraordinary workshop, relating the findings of his year-long study of online best practices. The presentation included a staggering 192 slides and revealed so much about the state of fundraising online today that it was virtually indigestible at one sitting. Tom graciously agreed to allow us to publish his findings piecemeal as a new column in this newsletter. What follows is the first installment. . .  read more 2. Put video to good use   By Rick Christ Everyone says video is hot online. A just-released Pew Internet report confirms the rapid growth in video viewership online in the past year—48% of Internet users! Growth is highest in the desirable demographic groups of women, 50-65 year olds, college graduates, and those in the highest income brackets. Most important, every demographic group surveyed experienced significant growth. . .  read more   3. Cooperation is the answer (Part 1) By Managing Editor Deborah Block and Paul Karps For many locally based social service organizations, the challenge of developing a sophisticated and successful direct mail fundraising program can be daunting. Not only may the nonprofit lack qualified staff to run such a program, but the expense may be prohibitive—particularly when it comes to acquiring new donors. However, for at least one portion of the nonprofit universe, the folks at full-service direct mail agency Lautman Maska Neill & Company (Washington DC) have come up with an innovative solution to this problem. . .  read more 4. Idea! Here's Idea #17 ("Build Your E-mail File with a Unique Offer") in Convio's series of 29 ideas to improve your online performance. Communication Workers of America (CWA) used this method to grow their e-mail list from 229 names to 69,000 names in 10 months. In September 2006, the organization launched their SpeedMatters.org campaign in an effort to bring high speed Internet access to all Americans. . .  read more 5. Merge-purge 101 By Suzie McGuire As a former list broker and now as a fundraising consultant, I'm often asked about the merge-purge process. I find that many fundraisers are unfamiliar with how the process works and the basic terminology used in the industry. This article is my effort to lay the foundation for better informed discussions about this critical topic in direct mail. . .  read more 6. Ask Mal Since 1994, when the Mal Warwick Associates Web site went online, Editor Mal Warwick has answered fundraising questions posed by visitors to the site. Hundreds of those Q&As are available here. In this feature, we'll spotlight one Q&A from the most recent month. Question: We have a very small direct mail program. We mail a total of about 3,500 pieces a quarter to current donors (about 500 - 600), lapsed donors (600 - 700), and suspects (2,200). The response rates are between 5 - 10% for current, 1 - 3% for lapsed, and less than 1% for suspects (generally donors from years in the past or on a mailing list for one of our publications). Until last year we were a hospital foundation, but the hospital was sold and we began supporting the outreach clinics the hospital had funded before its sale. So, we have lost a number of donors who are no longer interested in what we do, and we have no built-in constituency (the clinics treat the uninsured). And, the average donor age is 70+! We need to find new prospects, but we're really not sure how to go about it. I'd really like to purchase some names, but we have a limited budget, and I'm not really sure which lists would be best, how many, etc. Any advice? Thank you for your time.  Mal answers 7. Make your Web site a big hit By Lance Trebesch and Taylor Robinson A 30-Day Step-by-Step Guide to Dramatically Improved Search Engine Optimization (Part 1 of 4) Do you ever wonder why some Web sites seem to steal the top positions on search engines? No, it's not magic, and yes, your nonprofit can do it, too. The secret to achieving this success is to harness the power of search engine optimization (SEO). By following this step-by-step guide, you'll be well on your way to drastically improving your Web site's standing in only 30 days. . .  read more 8. Cost? American nonprofits (exclusive of religious organizations) spent an estimated total of $689.3 million on fundraising direct mail in 2007, according to the latest annual compendium of facts and figures about direct marketing in the USA produced by the Direct Marketing Association (New York NY). . .  read more 9. In praise of fiscal responsibility By Managing Editor Deborah Block and Paul Karps It seems that whenever the economy turns into a big issue—and that certainly seems to be the case this presidential election year—fiscal responsibility becomes a not-for-profit lightening rod. It's increasingly critical, therefore, that you make sure your donors and prospects understand just how cost-effective an operation you're running. That's why we were particularly taken with an acquisition package from Project HOPE (Millwood VA). Because this group isn't shy about proclaiming its fiscal condition—and rightly so. . .  read more 10. Certainty? It's less costly to keep a donor on your rolls than to acquire a new one. So it's disheartening to learn that Indiana University's Center on Philanthropy, as recounted in The Chronicle of Philanthropy, finds only 56% of Americans made charitable gifts in each of the three years studied—2000, 2002, and 2004. This indicates donors move in and out of the market, putting more pressure on the renewal process. Meanwhile, just 29% contributed to charity in some, but not all three years. Fewer than 15% didn't make any donations during those three years. At the same time, the total number of households contributing in each of the years stayed fairly constant (67-69%).

March 2008  IN THIS ISSUE Online best practices Online videos!  Cooperation is the answer Idea!  Merge-purge 101 Ask Mal Search-engine optimization Cost? Fiscal responsibility Certainty? Mal and other top speakers are only a click away. Starting March 6, the Resource Alliance, Inc. and Forum for Fundraising will offer a year's worth of Web-based seminars. To see who's speaking next, click here.     WHERE'S MAL? March 3-4, 2008 Mumbai, India Resource Alliance, Inc. March 9-10, 2008 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Sutera Milenium Communications March 13, 2008 Webinar Resource Alliance, Inc./Forum for Fundraising March 22-23, 2008 Kyiv, Ukraine Center for Philanthropy March 26-28, 2008 Prague, Czech Republic International Fundraising Festival April 8-11, 2008 Redwood City CA Global Philanthropy Forum May 1-4, 2008 Social Venture Network Spring Conference  May 21-25, 2008 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 8th International Workshop on Resource Mobilisation June 3-5, 2008 Palm Beach FL DMA Nonprofit Leadership Summit June 5-8, 2008 Boston MA Business Alliance for Local Living Economies July 23-25, 2008 Washington DC Bridge to Integrated Direct Marketing Conference October 14-17, 2008 Noordwijk, The Netherlands 28th International Fundraising Congress    SUBSCRIBE! It doesn't cost a nickel to subscribe to Mal Warwick's Newsletter: Successful Direct Mail, Telephone & online Fundraising. At a cost of just the few seconds it takes to enter your e-mail address below, you'll receive 12 idea-packed issues per year, one every month. For a FREE subscription to this newsletter, click here. To do a friend a favor by sending a free issue of Mal Warwick's Newsletter, click here. Mal Warwick, Editor Deborah Block, Managing Editor Kieu Tran, Production Manager Contributing Editors: Nick Allen, Donordigital Ken Burnett, Cascaid Consulting Harvey McKinnon, Harvey McKinnon Associates Jerold Panas, Jerold Panas, Linzy & Partners Steve Thomas, Stephen Thomas Joe White, Share Group, Inc.

March 2008 Issue | Newsletter Archive | Mal Warwick Associates | Contact Us

This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is distributed with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services. If legal or other expert assistance is require, the services of a competent professional should be sought. (From a declaration of principles jointly adopted by a committee of the American Bar Association and a committee of publishers.) Mal Warwick's Newsletter: Successful Direct Mail, Telephone & online FundraisingTM (ISSN 1067-9316) is published 12 times per year by Strathmoor Press, Inc., 2550 Ninth Street, Suite 103, Berkeley CA 94710-2516, phone (510) 843-8888, fax (510) 843-0142, e-mail info@strathmoor.com. Copyright © 2008 Strathmoor Press, Inc. All rights reserved.

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