Charity Sees Donations Spike After Abandoning Direct Mail

The Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental charity in Tucson that fights to keep endangered species alive, decided to eliminate direct mail in 2010 after it conducted an in-depth analysis of its costs.

Getting rid of mass mailings has proved to be a boon for the center: By the final weeks of 2010, its first year without direct mail, the charity had raised $1-million more from individuals than the preceding year, an increase of 44 percent