Direct Mail

On Friday, the Direct Marketing Fundraisers Association held its 2012 Package of the Year luncheon, honoring the Package of the Year winners. Here are some notable quotes from the event.

The "Cross-Channel Fundraising Tips and Trends" report is a high-level study of fundraising marketing, as we pulled endless amounts of data from our direct-mail and e-mail archives (the most complete direct marketing archive in the world) and are presenting the current fundraising trends, including comparisons of 2011 to 2010, as well as giving a glimpse of how 2012 is shaping up.

Segmentation and targeting are vital in direct-mail fundraising. If you aren't using it, you risk losing donors altogether. Because if a donor receives too much mail from too many places from one nonprofit, it may bug him or her enough to tune all of its communications out.

Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney's letter is minimalist, refreshing.

St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital sent a follow-up thank-you direct mailer to my online peer-to-peer gift and subsequently got me to give that all-important second gift.

To stand out, fundraising mailers can't be afraid to, well, stand out.

The 7.75-inch Monarch special appeal I received from the National September 11 Memorial & Museum at the World Trade Center Foundation (9/11 Memorial) has fantastic “package gestalt.”

Take a look at the Human Rights Campaign's successful online/offline conversion efforts — and the direct-mail package, dubbed "Right Side of History," that also allowed it to expand its traditional base of support.

Three fundraising professionals shared their "20 Big Ideas for Small Nonprofits" at the 2012 Washington Nonprofit Conference. Here are ideas 6-10.

The ball drops in Times Square, and next thing you know, Chez Seville is lousy with membership cards. Over the course of about six weeks, I received member/partner/supporter cards from 18 different organizations.