Direct Mail

Fundraisers from all walks of life are encountering many challenges these days, but what do the C-level executives see as the most important issues facing the sector? At the Direct Marketing Association Nonprofit Federation’s 2010 New York Nonprofit Conference, three top nonprofit executives joined moderator Tom Harrison, president and CEO of Russ Reid, to discuss these issues in a two-part session, “Cracking the Shell: Open Dialogue & Discussion With America’s Top Nonprofit C-Level Executives on the Sector’s Most Pressing Issues."

The traditional (and frankly easy) way to evaluate a direct-mail fundraising program is to determine net revenue and the number of donors you keep, gain and lose. A mature and well-managed program invests in acquisition, ends the year with more donors and, if really good, achieves an overall higher average gift to boot.

There's a lot of money in the mail these days. Over a period of about six weeks, I racked up $4.65 in cash and checks from nine different nonprofits. Tiger Creek Wildlife Refuge sent a quarter, and Soldiers' Angels mailed a dollar bill. I also received a $1 Council of Indian Nations check, and the National Humane Education Society sent me a check for two bucks. Both nonprofits assured me in the first line of the letter that the check is indeed real … but they hope I won't cash it.

The Direct Marketing Association and the DMA Nonprofit Federation today asked the Postal Regulatory Commission to dismiss the United States Postal Service’s request to increase postal rates by 10 times the rate permissible by law. The petition was filed by the Affordable Mail Alliance.

This action by USPS comes just three years after Congress passed the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006, which was supposed to prevent rate increases that exceed the rate of inflation.

A growing number of charities across the USA are taking a nickel-and-dime approach to encourage donations by mail, despite some evidence that including coins in solicitations turns off potential donors.