I think in theory, the end of the year is when people are thinking about
whether they have made their donations for the year for tax purposes, so
sometime in the fall is good. If you then also have a reminder, say when
dues notices go out, i.e. pay your dues & make a donation if you haven't
already, people can make the donation either time.  Our "Annual Fund"
drive runs from Oct 1st to Sept 30th.  Dues are on a calendar year of
Jan - Dec. 
Ella Aderman
Historical Society of Montgomery County PA

-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Karns, Cari
Sent: Thursday, March 17, 2011 10:52 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [MUSEUM-L] Annual Fund Timing

As a municipal Museum relatively new to fundraising, we held our first
direct mail appeal late last Fall--dropped the week before
Thanksgiving--and we were pleased with the results. We are doing our
first membership campaign this spring so probably will not do another
donation appeal until Fall, but I have worked at other organizations
that had very successful appeals twice a year--one in late Spring (May
letter with June follow-up prior to end of fiscal year) and one at the
end of the calendar year. Although there is certainly more opportunity
for your mailing to get lost in the holiday shuffle, I think yearend
giving will always have a strong response.  That said, certainly
experiment with different times of year and even frequency of mailing.
And if you have a high-profile event earlier in the year, even an
anniversary, there's a great opportunity to talk about support then! I
definitely worry about donor fatigue with multiple mailings, but I think
the only way to know for sure is to test it with your constituents.  And
of course make sure they hear from you at times when you're not asking
for money!

Good luck, and I look forward to seeing what others are doing!


Cari M. Karns
Development Coordinator
Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum
215 South Tejon Street
Colorado Springs, CO 80903
719-385-5633

On exhibit now - So Far from Home: The American POW Experience in WWII
Museum open Tuesday-Saturday 10am-4pm


-----Original Message-----

Date:    Wed, 16 Mar 2011 16:06:31 -0400
From:    Amanda Wesselmann <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Annual Fund timing?

When do you send letters for your annual fund drive?  We have typically
sent ours at the end of the year, and now have a board member asking
what other museums do.  Is the trend shifting away from end-of-the-year
annual fund letters?

Thanks,


Amanda Wesselmann

Associate Director

General Lew Wallace Study and Museum

P.O. Box 662

200 Wallace Ave.

Crawfordsville, IN 47933

765/362-5769

www.ben-hur.com


The General Lew Wallace Study & Museum is the recipient of a 2008
National Medal for Museum and Library Service, awarded by the federal
Institute of Museum and Library Service! Please visit our website for
photos and details
(www.ben-hur.com/nationalmedal<http://www.ben-hur.com/nationalmedal>).



------------------------------

Date:    Wed, 16 Mar 2011 15:10:29 -0700
From:    lucysperlin <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Annual Fund timing?

I think this is a great topic for discussion and will be looking for
other opinions.

 

In our community there is an all-community (county) fund drive organized
by a local Community Foundation in which non-profits sign up, and are
listed on their website, and the Foundation does a lot of advertising
and making the drive high-profile. The NFP then mails an appeal to their
constituents to
give to it.   All donations received in a two month  period, Aug 1 to
Sept
30 (we're a Univ. community in which school starts in early August) get
a small piece of matching funds that the Foundation has raised itself
(usually about 10% of the donations that come in for each organization)
and that is a great incentive to get people to give at that time.  We
thought that this would replace our late-year Annual Appeal. And, in
fact, it did quite well -probably better than our previous fall annual
fund drives.

 

However, two organizations I belong to have experimented in the last two
years with an additional appeal at the end of the year.  And I do mean
the end of the year. Reluctant to have our mailing get lost in Christmas
ads, mail, and rush, instead of mailing in Nov. as many do, we mailed a
day or two before Christmas, trying to have it arrive on Dec. 26 or 27,
when folks start looking at their mail again and act promptly if they
are thinking about a tax deduction. This has worked very well. (We try
to focus on a specific need for this drive.) Some people get money in
right away and others mail in over the next several weeks.  We surmise
that some people forget to give to the community appeal use the second
chance to give.  Some give to both, and I'm guessing that for the
Aug-Sept drive they are spreading available dollars between several
organizations so feel they can give more just to us later.

 

All that said, I've seen some organizations do the annual fund drive in
about April.  I'd be interested to know how successful that is because I
think we are hitting people too heavily in the fall, since our
membership renewal is also in the fall, and I'd like to move some of our
asking to another season.

 

Lucy Sperlin

Butte County Historical Society

Oroville, CA

 

  _____  

From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Amanda Wesselmann
Sent: Wednesday, March 16, 2011 1:07 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [MUSEUM-L] Annual Fund timing?

 

When do you send letters for your annual fund drive?  We have typically
sent ours at the end of the year, and now have a board member asking
what other museums do.  Is the trend shifting away from end-of-the-year
annual fund letters?

 

Thanks,

 

Amanda Wesselmann

Associate Director

General Lew Wallace Study and Museum

P.O. Box 662

200 Wallace Ave.

Crawfordsville, IN 47933

765/362-5769

www.ben-hur.com
 

The General Lew Wallace Study & Museum is the recipient of a 2008
National Medal for Museum and Library Service, awarded by the federal
Institute of Museum and Library Service! Please visit our website for
photos and details (www.ben-hur.com/nationalmedal).  

 



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