Direct Mail
August 31, 2010
Cathy Pharoah, director of the Centre for Charitable Giving and Philanthropy, says direct mail remains 'hugely important.' One-third of people who make donations to charity are prompted to do so by receiving direct mail from the organisation in the post, according to a survey by delivery company TNT. The poll of 2,000 British adults found that 57 per cent of those who respond to mail appeals do so by post. It also found that 10 per cent of respondents would use information sent through the post to find out more about a charity, but 87 per cent of
August 17, 2010
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.
August 1, 2010
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.
July 26, 2010
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.
July 19, 2010
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.
The change comes while charities scramble to fight a recession-fueled drop in donations. In June, the GivingUSA Foundation reported a $11.3 billion drop in charitable giving for the past year.
