Premiums are vital to many direct-mail, donor-acquisition progams. But address labels alone might not do the job.

By Amy Koop

We love to hate them, but the fact is premiums comprise a majority of nonprofit acquisition mail, and their usage remains steady. Subsequently, for many nonprofits today, there is increased competitive pressure to stand out in the mailbox. And while many have come to rely on the response rates that premium packages bring, the days of indiscriminately mailing address labels are over. We need to become smarter about what and when we mail, and to whom.