How To Grow Your Charitable Donor Mailing List

Death, relocation, bankruptcy, and donor apathy are just a few reasons that loyal donors stop giving money.  For nonprofits seeking to grow or even maintain the size of their current database, it is critical to target prospects with a high likelihood of conversion and bring them into the fold.  The million dollar question is “Where can I find more donors like the ones I have?”

Is there such a thing as a Charitable Donor Mailing list?  Yes, charitable donor mailing lists do exist throughout the U.S. and in some foreign countries.  If there are no other defining criteria, then this is probably the best place to start building a prospect list.  A common temptation is to solicit individuals based on some measure of wealth like income or their neighborhood; while this may indicate that they have means, it is not an indication of willingness to support a charitable cause.  A better approach is to start with the charitable donor list and then filter by the criteria that match an organization’s current donor demographics; this can be done using age, income, marital status, presence of children, etc.  A list compiled in this fashion will provide a prospect list of individuals who have both the desire and ability to give.

What other types of lists make sense for nonprofit solicitation?  This depends on the mission of the organization doing the soliciting.  For instance, within the charitable donors list, there is a subset of individuals who support causes related to wildlife and nature.  In another scenario, an organization that supports military veterans could acquire a list of individuals with a history of military service as they would be more likely feel a connection with the cause.  If an organization’s cause relates to political preferences, or religious preferences, these audiences can be targeted as well.

There are other lists available that target individuals by lifestyle; these lists are typically compiled based on magazine subscriptions, product warranties, purchase habits and survey information.  For instance, an organization like the Special Olympics may choose to target people who are active in sports because they better understand the positive benefits of exercise.  Another group who seeks to preserve historic buildings may choose to target individuals classified as history buffs.  The key here is to identify a segment of the population that has an emotional connection to the organization’s cause or mission.

Can I just buy an e-mail list of prospects?  While e-mail may be a great tool for re-solicitation, it is very difficult to use for prospecting.  “Prospecting” here is defined as approaching people who have never before donated to the charitable organization doing the soliciting.  As a result of the U.S. Congress’s passage of the Can-Spam Act of 2004, most reputable list brokers will never release the e-mail addresses directly.  Some reputable list vendors will allow solicitation to select people via e-mail indirectly; in this scenario, the organization who pays for the service never receives the e-mail addresses.  This requires a very high level of trust with the organization providing the service.

The bottom line is that growing the donor base is an investment in an organization’s future, not an expense.  A short-sighted individual will point out that the cost to acquire new donors is typically greater than the amount collected in donations during the initial mailing.  An individual with a long-term view understands that donor re-solicitation over time will sustain an organization and enable it to grow.

Comments

[shekhar kumar]

we are social worker and need donation support from doner

[politics]

Its is a social work and grow the social working in important the mailing list thank for grate topic.

[student aid]

It is a great works for the nation.

[medical school]

Medical filed is a social works but it is no send the mailing. very very thanks for the nice topics.