A Look Inside the Outside

Options exist in terms of color and texture as well. Many printers offer “faux-textured” envelopes that look and feel more substantial, like linen, but are reasonably priced. Kinch says the texture of the paper speaks to donors, but its importance often is overlooked by mailers.

“I always tell people to feel their paper samples, as silly as it sounds,” Kinch says. “When you’re holding a piece of mail, it has texture; there’s reality to it. A lot of times we’re just thinking about the words on the page or the design … We’re not always thinking about how it’s actually going to feel.”