Socially it's really unacceptable to say "we spent $3 million on marketing this year" because people think you should have spent it helping people, but if you don't spend it this year your doors close next year.
I'm one of those people. Not that I think they shouldn't be marketing, but they could do a better job at it.
For example, I sponsored someone who was running a race to benefit St. Jude's a few years ago. Not a big donation, but I figured I'd contribute. They have since spent much, much more than my donation amount on marketing targeted at me -- in postage alone. Once per month I get something in the mail with glossy prints and promises of gifts and so on.
I'm sure this strategy works to pull in donations (or they wouldn't do it). But I can't help but think if they tapered down the frequency of mailings based on my history of non-response they could save a lot of money. If I don't respond monthly, switch me to quarterly. If not quarterly then semi-annually, and so on. Even if they continued sending them once per year, that's a 92% savings over the current model.