Charity relies on reciprocity to help raise funds.
For years, the Disabled American Veterans organization used a well-crafted fund-raising letter to garner a very respectable 18 percent rate of response to its appeals.
But when the group started enclosing a small gift in the envelope, the response rate nearly doubled to 35 percent. The gift – personalized address labels – was extremely modest.
It wasn’t what prospective donors received that made the difference. It was that they had gotten anything at all.