The rule of thumb in fundraising is to renew a donor through the same channel as the one she's accustomed to. If her first gift came by mail, renew by mail. If she gives by phone habitually, renew her by phone. However, one pattern that seems to be emerging lies in the area you ask about: online fundraising. Online donors are proving difficult to renew online, as you may have observed. Direct mail seems to be working better with them. And direct-mail-acquired donors will definitely do best most of the time when renewed by mail. The telephone works better only for lapsed and long-lapsed donors who have failed to respond to the mail.

I'm much more inclined to use direct mail to drive donors to respond by mail, not online. A large, though undetermined, proportion of donors who are asked to go online will tell themselves they'll do so but won't. Others will take a cursory look at a Web site and then fail to respond. It's best, I believe, to offer an online donation as an alternative for those who favor giving online -- not as the principal way to respond to an appeal.