Smithtown University' s fund-raisers succeeded in getting donations from 80 percent of the potential donors they contacted  This success rate, exceptionally high for university fund-raisers, does not indicate that they were doing a good job  On the contrary, since the people most likely to donate are those who have donated in the past, good fund-raisers constantly try less-likely prospects in an effort to expand the donor base
The high success rate shows insufficient canvassing effort
Smithtown University's fund-raisers were successful in their contacts with potential donors who had never given before about as frequently as were fund-raisers for other universities in their contacts with such people.