Horror to Hope

The Katrina catastrophe and the role of nonprofits in the relief effort really shed new light on our first annual Gold Awards for Direct-Mail Excellence, the results of which appear in this issue. In the past few months, I’ve seen more direct-mail appeals than most people see in years. And as I look at it in light of the horrors I’ve seen in the past week, I am acutely reminded of the “why” behind the pile of direct-mail efforts that has accumulated in a corner of my office.