Personalized Letter Helps Fraternity Keep High-Level Donors

Donors who give $1,000 or more to Alpha Gamma Rho, a national Kansas City, Mo.-based fraternity with 70 campus chapters for undergraduates interested in the agriculture, food, and fiber industries, earn recognition with membership in the Grand President’s Society.

And, in some cases, they make their gifts in response to an invitation from the Grand President himself.

About 20 years ago, the organization started building a hand-picked prospect list of fraternity brothers who might increase their giving. In 2013, the fraternity’s Grand President, an elected leader who serves as the chairman of the board, wrote a letter asking those supporters to join or renew their membership in the high-level giving society.

The approach seems to work. In 2013, the Grand President’s Society grew from 52 to 79 members. Thirty-four of the society’s members renewed from the previous year, meaning that they again gave a gift large enough to remain in the the group—a 65 percent retention rate. Overall, 58 percent of the donors who gave to the organization in 2013 had also made a gift in the previous year.

Two staff members, the group’s Grand President, and direct-mail vendor Gabriel Group worked on the mailing, which cost only $250 to print and send.

For 2014, the fraternity enlisted the help of volunteers to add a personal note by hand on the roughly 300 letters. “The personalized invitations catch the donor’s eye a bit more than something not personalized,” says Stasia Sherman, the fraternity’s development specialist.

The organization also began other retention initiatives, which staff hopes will further boost the number of repeat donors. Those efforts include sending 1,600 donors a 64-page “growth report” with donor listings, charts displaying financial information, articles highlighting donors, and descriptions of projects that supporters’ donations helped finance.

Retention rate for Grand President’s Society members: 65 percent

Retention rate for all donors to the organization: 58 percent

Gross revenue: $275,695 for the group’s “loyalty fund”

Average gift made by Grand President’s Society members: $1,237.67

Average gift made by donors not in the Society: $97.10

Number mailed: Roughly 300

Cost: About $250