DM Fundraising Across the Pond An American consultant goes one on one with British colleague John Watson

By Jim Hussey

JH: We would love to have donors that young. But the typical direct-mail donor list in the United States is composed of strictly older donors.
JW: The American experience (of relying on direct mail) doesn’t work as well here for the simple reason that the cost equation for direct mail is so much worse in the U.K. The cost of postage is much higher because we don’t have a nonprofit rate. The print volumes are also very much lower and much more expensive. So direct mail is really struggling because the cost of sending a direct-mail pack in the U.K. is going higher and higher, and it’s priced almost out of the market. We simply can’t afford it anymore.