Tips for 'Greening' Your Nonprofit Practices

To counteract this, NWF focuses on the following four key areas:

1. List hygiene. This comes down to making sure you're mailing the right people, Zaleski said. NWF employ CASS, NCOA and PCOA; does a chronic nonresponder analysis; and has a dedicated staff person who handles list hygiene.

2. Strategic practices. The organization tries to utilize other channels such as online, print advertising, telemarketing and the Web more. It also does a mid-year performance review to gauge if there are ways it could cut back more. It also has a "Mailing Smarter Task Force" and "Cool It! Committee," which comes up with ideas of ways the organization can make a difference through its internal practices.

3. Eco-friendly materials. NWF looks to select paper for its direct-mail campaigns made from post-consumer waste or sustainable sources. In terms of sustainable papers, Zaleski said to look for vendors approved by the FSC or SFI. But she stressed that post-consumer waste is the best way to go because it saves more trees from being cut for paper in the first place.