I am a firm believer that receipts have an important purpose in our fundraising strategy and should be mailed quickly after (almost) every donation. Here's why.
Direct Mail
In the October 2005 issue, then FS Associate Editor Abny Santicola wrote, "Don't Mess With the Message," an Anatomy of a Control that looked at how the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund learned that an organization's premiums have to reflect its mission.
There's great power in your words. But to find it, you must, as the Second Apparition told Macbeth, "Be bloody, bold and resolute."
The decision is about much more than just direct mail. It is rooted in the decision to change how the Society views donor dollars, the donor experience with its overall iconic brand, and perhaps most importantly, how it drives a greater sense of urgency around its mission.
In a Fast15 this past fall, FS Editor-in-Chief Margaret Battistelli Gardner shared five direct-mail fundraising musts. In the Fast15, she provided the example of Operation Smile's great storytelling and use of images.
Direct-mail fundraising gets ramped up even more during the political fundraising cycles. Paul Bobnak, research director of DirectMarketingIQ, took a look at "The Best in 2012 Election Mail," last year.
If we want to motivate readers — get them to the emotional state we want them be in when we ask for money — this is how we have to talk to them. "We've got to. It's all we can do. We have no other choice."
Ethan Boldt , chief content officer of DirectMarketingIQ, breaks down several direct-mail trends in the fundraising space in this short video. These trends come from the report "Cross-Channel Fundraising Tips and Trends," which reveals important direct-mail and e-mail data, best practices for using that data, along with five case studies of cross-channel fundraising campaigns.
Flesch-Kincaid is a small tool that can be a big help. Readability stats won't do your writing for you, but they can definitely make the writing you do stronger!
On March 20, two of our Engage presenters — Karin Kirchoff, vice president of Mindset Direct, and Steve Kehrli, foundation development director at the PETA Foundation — joined TrueGivers' Charlie Cadigan and DonorVoice's Angie Moore for a lively discussion on direct mail's part in a multichannel fundraising strategy. Until June 20, you can still catch the archived version of this FREE webinar simply by registering.