Direct Mail

There's a fine line between raising funds and raising donors' ire through direct mail. Make sure you toe the rope carefully and send your donors relevant, engaging direct-mail solicitaions.

The message I heard after year-end 2010 was clear: One-off appeals (whether letters or e-mails) don't work well anymore. These days, the organizations with the most direct-response moxie are the ones that craft engaging 
campaigns with many touchpoints. Multipronged campaigns not only raise money — they build deeper relationships that pay off 
over time.

This envelope came from a local hospital with whom my husband had a two-night stand earlier in the year. It was metered with nonprofit postage, and the return address was the hospital name and "Office of Philanthropy." Since we had never donated to it, what could shout "donor acquisition" more loudly? It couldn't have been more simple, but the good copy worked.

There’s a lingering misconception that direct mail and the Web are fundamentally at odds. It’s more accurate to say that they complement and influence each other, and can enhance campaign effectiveness when considered as part of a whole. Consider designing your direct mail with the following in mind:

When the Southeast Texas Food Bank was incorporated in 1991, it did no fundraising whatsoever, it had two donor names (the executive director and a board member) and its budget was around $700,000. Today, it has 25,000 donor names in its database and an operating budget of $1.9 million.

I rarely receive monthly giving invitations by mail, but that's not surprising since many nonprofits find telemarketing yields much better results, at least until they can afford to try direct-response television. But one of those organizations is including direct mail in its acquisition efforts, interestingly.

When the Southeast Texas Food Bank was incorporated in 1991, it did no fundraising whatsoever, it had two donor names (the executive director and a board member) and its budget was around $700,000. Today, it has 25,000 donor names in its database and an operating budget of $1.9 million.

The most common complaint donors make about fundraising? Too much mail! Right? Do those too-much-mail complaints stab you in the heart because you're afraid they might be correct? Well, they are correct. It's not possible for them to be wrong: If a donor perceives too much mail, she's getting too much mail. It's something we need to deal with.

Today, every fundraiser understands that direct mail can't do it all. Any campaign needs the other channels, to some extent ... and ideally on the same page. And while the closely coordinated direct-mail and e-mail campaigns are both popular and successful today, perhaps the most effective demonstration of the offline-online marriage is a personalized URL (PURL) campaign.

To take advantage of this evolving popularity of responding online to direct-mail appeals, let’s look at some strategies that you can implement immediately that will make your mail more engaging and encourage your prospects, donors and members to give, join and renew on your website.