SMART FUND-RAISING TECHNIQUE

Library Administrator's Digest, Jan 2005 by Robinson, Charles W

I suppose that a lot of you, like me, get appeals to contribute to the annual fund for some educational institution you attended. Near the end of the year I receive letters (and phone calls) from the four educational institutions I attended as well as a bunch of other charities, some of which I've given money to in the past, and some from out of the blue. All this, I guess, is timed to catch you when you're thinking about tax deductions for the year.

But this year I have noticed a new wrinkle - one that I haven't seen before. A letter to me from a school or charity I have contributed say, $100, in the past will say something like "can you raise your contribution to $125?" Or they might suggest $115, but always a bit more. I assume that they feel they would scare me to death with a suggestion to double my contribution.

Well, guess what? I usually go right along. Now if most of their contributors do the same, total contributions could go up a healthy percentage. In order to work effectively, you have to have a record of the previous contribution and apply a percentage increase, and the letter has to be somewhat personalized. But this must be a lot easier these days through the magic of computers. Maybe this is old news, but I haven't noticed it before. Made me think that some consulting group got to all these fundraisers more or less at the same time.

In any event, I hope that library foundations which send out annual letters do something like this. It works for me!