A Proven Path from $13 Million to $25 Million in Net Revenue
RKD Group's Integrated Growth Strategy for Paralyzed Veterans of America
We know that every morning, 16,000 veterans living with spinal cord injuries or diseases wake up to a world that wasn't built for them. They plan their routes carefully. They map every move. Because when your body changes, the world doesn't automatically change with it.
They are among the 5.5 million Americans with mobility disabilities navigating barriers that don't appear on any map. Detours where there should be clear paths. Doors that weren't built for them. Waits that stretch just beyond the moment they worked toward.
That is why Paralyzed Veterans of America was founded—to remove the barriers that still exist. To be there for every service member, for every person who deserves to live a full life, regardless of how they move. This work cannot stop here.
Reaching a new generation of donors is everything. It is how the legacy endures. It is how a barrier gets removed for someone five years from now who hasn't yet faced it. Those donors are out there. They're younger, values-driven, ready to show up for a mission this meaningful.
This is why RKD Group wants to be an extension of your team. We don't want to rebuild what you've created over the last 80 years but to help you do more with it.
To reduce the cost of fundraising so more of every dollar goes directly to programs and member services. To maintain and deepen the relationships you've built with three million active donors. And to expand the revenue streams that allow PVA to keep removing the barriers that still exist.
We would be proud to work alongside Paralyzed Veterans of America as this next era begins. We want to help you continue your mission of bringing those barriers down.
Every veteran deserves a world
built for them.
We are meeting you at this moment because you're looking to reverse negative performance trends and bring energy back into your direct mail program. You're not alone.
In 2023 Business Insider reported: for only the fourth time in 40 years, total U.S. charitable donations declined year over year, falling 3.4% to roughly $500 billion and more than 10% when adjusted for inflation. The charitable sector hasn't stabilized since.
We don't believe that. Generosity isn't dying. But it is shifting.
What separates the organizations that are growing from the ones that aren't isn't the challenge—it's what they decided to do about it. They are using data and advanced analytics to find donors where they are, crafting research-driven messaging to speak to what moves them, and building the technology infrastructure to reach them first.
Five Layers. One Problem. These are not five isolated challenges. They are five layers of one problem—and our plan is to address all of them together.
Protecting your legacy while finding a path to growth is not a simple fix. As your partner, we'd bring a disciplined, proven approach to building a direct mail program that grows donor relationships over time, deepens commitment to the mission, and generates the long-term net revenue that keeps transformative work alive.
That math only works if what happens after acquisition is sharpened—better targeting, stronger creative, more intelligent segmentation, and a sustainer conversion strategy that turns a $24 donor into a $12-a-month relationship worth multiples of that over time.
We keep the program moving forward. Smarter segmentation, tighter targeting, and continuous creative optimization deliver higher performance for your campaigns. Revenue is protected and grown, so PVA never has to choose between building for the future and funding the mission today.
At the same time, Heller and RKD modernize the data, architecture, and technology that every future decision depends on. When the foundation is ready, acquisition sharpens, digital integration deepens, and sustainer growth compounds. The work is invisible. The results won't be.
Five integrated steps that work together to strengthen performance, deepen donor relationships, and drive long-term growth.
Every decision in a direct mail program runs on the data underneath it. We map the program from the inside out—then optimize it. Heller Consulting brings 27 years of Blackbaud experience to guide PVA's CRM migration.
Our proprietary platform Velocity™ runs continuously across PVA's donor database—predictive, not regressive—surfacing opportunities before they become visible to anyone else.
RKD optimizes for long-term net—not just response rates. Mission-driven donors cost less, stay longer, and give more.
A monthly donor is not a transaction—they are a promise. We design intentional journeys from acquisition through retention, closing where donors are already headed: online, ready to commit.
Acquiring the right donor is the beginning of the story, not the end of it. We combine data, market research, and psychographic insights to guide donors from a first gift toward Mid-Level, Bridge, Valor Circle, and Patriot Circle giving.
When donors feel connected to the mission, they give more. It starts with data.
Every decision in a direct mail program runs on the data underneath it. When that data is outdated, incomplete, or misaligned, the entire program pays for it. Modernizing and validating PVA's donor database is foundational.
Our first move is always diagnostic. Before recommending a single tactic, we map the program from the inside out—then optimize it. We acquired Heller Consulting because we know systems need to speak to each other and data must be accurate.
Heller brings 27 years of Blackbaud experience. RKD's customer data platform, powered by Hightouch, connects every system so when information updates in one place, every channel reflects it in real time. In the hands of the right partner, PVA's migration to Blackbaud becomes the foundation the entire program runs on.
Four consecutive years of declining active donors. Systems that no longer talked to each other. We built a unified data infrastructure across all 11 divisions, replacing a patchwork of systems with a single source of donor truth. In our first full year together:
The right message finds the right donor at the right moment.
Most fundraising programs react to donor behavior after it happens. By the time the data catches up, the moment has passed. For a program the size of PVA's, those missed moments add up quickly.
We don't wait for donors to tell us what they need. By combining behavioral signals, demographic intelligence, and mission engagement patterns, we build audience-led journeys that meet each donor at the right moment, with the right message, through the right channel. Not by pushing harder but by listening better.
Our proprietary modeling platform, Velocity™, runs continuously across PVA's entire donor database. Most models are regressive. Velocity™ is predictive, surfacing opportunities before they become visible to anyone else.
We saw what this approach delivered for Feed the Children and the 19 million mail pieces they send annually. Six months after our donor journey strategy launched:
The donors who will carry this mission are out there.
PVA's most loyal donors are in their late 70s and early 80s. Honoring that legacy means reaching the next generation. Premium-driven donors often carry a negative long-term net from the start—they cost more to acquire, are harder to retain, and are slower to grow their giving.
PVA deserves donors who show up because they believe in the mission. Over the next two decades, an estimated $84 trillion in wealth will transfer from one generation to the next—these donors want to invest in a mission, not just give to it.
RKD optimizes for long-term net—measuring both the revenue and the true cost of a donor relationship over five years. We use donor co-op data and modeling to surface donors with the capacity and motivation to give at elevated levels. We will also strategically target your lapsed audiences for reactivation.
A nine-year transformation.
Through LTN analysis, co-op data, predictive modeling, and a shift toward mission-driven donors:
Predictable revenue is how the mission stays sustainable.
Most organizations acquire sustainers, process the monthly gift, and send them the same appeals the rest of the donors receive. The sustainer becomes a revenue line, not a relationship. And eventually they cancel—not because the mission lost them, but because no one made them feel like they mattered.
A monthly donor is not a transaction to be processed. They are a promise. A commitment that says: I believe in this mission so deeply that I will fund it every single month. That commitment deserves a journey built specifically around it.
Sustainers typically convert through digital channels even when direct mail first moved them. When a direct mail donor visits PVA's website to research the mission, RKD's proprietary SignalLayer turns that anonymous visit into actionable donor intelligence. The result is a sustainer conversion pathway that starts in the mailbox and closes where the donor was already headed: online, ready to commit.
Retention is designed in from the start. A written plan distinguishes between donors who cancel intentionally and those who lapse due to payment failure, with specific re-engagement pathways for each.
Upgrade conversations happen every nine to twelve months, growing the commitment alongside the relationship. And because SignalLayer continuously monitors engagement signals across channels, those conversations happen at the right moment—not on a predetermined schedule but when the donor's own behavior confirms they are ready.
Continuing our work with BrightFocus Foundation, we designed a dedicated multichannel sustainer conversion campaign across direct mail, email, text, paid media, and a new landing page. We also deployed SignalLayer across their website to turn anonymous website traffic into identified donor opportunity. SignalLayer recognized who they were and delivered a dynamic, audience-specific experience designed to move each one toward the next meaningful step.
The bridge between mailbox and website, once invisible, has become one of the highest-performing elements in the program. The results were clear:
Relationships are where the revenue lives.
Acquiring the right donor is the beginning of the story, not the end of it. The real opportunity is what happens after that first gift—how a donor who gave $50 becomes someone who gives $500, then $5,000, then makes PVA part of their legacy. Donors don't stay because of a mail piece. They stay because they feel connected, valued, and confident in the mission.
Our market research surveys go beyond giving history, combining behavioral, demographic, and psychographic data to understand what actually drives each donor's motivation to give. When we combine data with market research, we guide donors from a first gift toward lifelong commitment. Not by pushing harder but by listening better.
Velocity™ continuously runs across PVA's active donors, surfacing donors trending toward higher commitment to Mid-Level, Bridge, Valor Circle, and Patriot Circle giving before they arrive there on their own.
For planned giving, 85% of leads come from donors acquired through direct mail. We identify planned giving prospects before they signal, analyzing giving behavior, mission engagement, and demographic indicators.
A dedicated mid-level communication stream using predictive modeling to identify high-value prospects. After year one:
The barriers are still there. They don't move on their own.
For the veteran who will sustain a spinal cord injury next year. For the mom whose daughter served our country, but she is now driving her to every rehabilitation appointment. For the person who will receive an ALS or MS diagnosis tomorrow and doesn't yet know they'll need PVA. For each one of them, this work cannot stop here.
$13 to $25 million in net revenue growth is the margin between what PVA can do today and what PVA will be able to do for the next generation of people who need them. The five challenges standing between PVA and that number have solutions. RKD Group has solved each one before, and we are ready to solve them with you.
That is the opportunity in front of you.
We are ready to help you achieve transformative growth—and keep bringing those barriers down. Accessibility for everyone.