Focus On: Lists: Prospecting Lists that Work

We have had some success with consumer magazines and even tried some off-the-wall things like gardening lists when the package we mailed included a premium of wildflower cards. It wasn’t wildly successful but was an interesting test.

FS: How important are list exchanges? Is it difficult to manage and negotiate exchanges?
KC: The more we mail, the more we have to rent names. Right now, the balance is about 55 percent rental to about 45 percent exchange. I feel nonprofits are probably a little more open to exchanges than mailers in some other markets. In a way, you could say we are mailing against our competitors; but in a strange way, we help each other out, too. So it’s sort of like “a rising tide lifts all boats.”