| Want to learn a vital lesson in donor retention? Here's | | | | "What you win them with is what you win them to." |
| a tactic from Sunday School to avoid. | | | | In other words, if you use weight-loss classes or |
| I know a Christian church in the United States that | | | | rock concerts or pizza parties to attract new people |
| uses all sorts of tricks to attract neighbourhood | | | | to your church, those are the things that the people |
| children to its evangelistic Sunday School programs. | | | | come to receive. They come for the pizza, not the |
| One trick is to attach a ten-dollar bill to the underside | | | | preaching. The music, not the message. The singing, |
| of a chair in the classroom. The child who happens to | | | | not the Saviour. Churches and Sunday School |
| pick that chair gets to keep the $10 Cool. Naturally, | | | | programs that use these devices increase their |
| this trick leads to plenty of freeword-of-mouth | | | | numbers, but only for a season. When the incentives |
| advertising in the neighbourhood on Monday. | | | | stop coming, the people stop coming. |
| Another trick is to give a toy to every child who | | | | Which is why I always encourage my clients to ask |
| brings a friend to Sunday School. Naturally, this means | | | | for the second gift first, in their mind at least. Before |
| the church receives a steady influx of new students | | | | they mail the acquisition package with its expensive |
| each Sunday. | | | | premium, they need to know what they are going to |
| But this church has a problem. And so do you, if you | | | | mail next to donors who respond. And what they will |
| use similar tricks to attract new donors or members. | | | | mail after that. You can't mail bribes forever. You |
| Simply put, this church attracts children who care | | | | have to offer donors a better reason to respond |
| more about mammon than they care about God. | | | | than bundles of free greeting cards. |
| Which is to be expected. A carnal incentive attracts a | | | | Your case for support must aim for donor |
| carnal student. | | | | aspirations, not greed. You want donors who are |
| In direct mail donor acquisition, the equivalent of the | | | | sympathetic with your cause, inspired by your goals, |
| ten-dollar note taped to the underside of the chair is | | | | and motivated by altruism, not selfishness. As Kay |
| the lottery or sweepstakes. The equivalent of the | | | | Sprinkel Grace says in her book, Over Goal! What |
| free toy is the free sheet of address labels. | | | | You Must Know to Excel at Fundraising Today, "You |
| The problem with lotteries and premiums, of course, | | | | cannot motivate people; they are already motivated, |
| is that they attract many donors. Of the wrong kind. | | | | and your job is to find out what motivates them and |
| Premiums boost response rates, even triple them on | | | | construct the right environment in which their |
| occasion, but usually at the expense of reducing the | | | | motivation will flourish." |
| size of the average gift. And usually by attracting | | | | So, when you plan your next donor acquisition mailing, |
| donors who will not renew their support and mail | | | | aim to reach the hearts and minds of your potential |
| another gift unless they receive another lottery | | | | donors, not just their wallets. And avoid incentives |
| ticket or premium in return. | | | | that attract one-time donors and guilt offerings. What |
| In the evangelical church circle that I run in, we say, | | | | you win them with is what you win them to. |