Direct Mail

Five fundraising professionals offered ideas for success and growth for this year and beyond to wrap up day 1 of the DMA Nonprofit Federation's 2011 Washington Nonprofit Conference.

DirectMail.com (www.DirectMail.com), a leading provider of integrated direct marketing solutions, announced today that Capital Hospice, a nonprofit providing expert end-of-life care to patients and families in need in Northern Virginia, Washington, D.C. and Prince George's County, Md., exercised the first of two 1-year renewal options in its contractual agreement. DirectMail.com will thus manage all aspects of the organization's 2011 direct mail program, overseeing year-end, special appeal, acquisition and renewal mailings.

The Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental charity in Tucson that fights to keep endangered species alive, decided to eliminate direct mail in 2010 after it conducted an in-depth analysis of its costs.

Getting rid of mass mailings has proved to be a boon for the center: By the final weeks of 2010, its first year without direct mail, the charity had raised $1-million more from individuals than the preceding year, an increase of 44 percent

Try dressing up the outer envelope to get your fundraising direct mail opened and read.

I deliberately became a lapsed donor (13+ months) in early 2010 in order to receive more reinstatement and acquisition mail, to see how nonprofits would endeavor to woo me back. Recent lapsed-donor direct-mail efforts from St. Labre and CARE really stand out.

Fundraising pros Dane Grams and Richard DeVeau offer some general tips for small and midsized nonprofit organizations.

Do you have the guts? I have 10 ideas that might scare the daylights out of you. They're probably difficult, politically unpopular or against the rules of your organization. Furthermore, these ideas might not work for you. They could even be very, very bad for you. But I don't think so. These are good ideas that have worked for others who made them happen despite the difficulties. I dare you to try at least one.

At the Direct Marketing Fundraisers Association Year-End Luncheon, veteran fundraising expert Roger Craver, founder of DonorTrends and editor of The Agitator, shared five fundraising trends to get on top of in 2011.

AFP CEO Paulette Maehara shares her thoughts on Convio's positive 2010 Holiday Giving Survey findings.

If the 2008 election was about hope and change, the 2010 midterm campaign, judging by its direct mail, was mostly focused on anger. That's the most obvious takeaway based on a review of the fundraising appeals and campaign fliers that we've seen during the year. Whether directed at President Obama, or at congressional leaders Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, this emotional touchpoint dominated political mail like it hasn't since the days of Bill Clinton.