Direct Mail

June 6, 2009, Indianapolis Business Journal — Most of us wouldn’t drop what we’re doing to show our friends a form letter that included our names in the salutation.

May 5, 2009 — The Nonprofit Federation of the Direct Marketing Association (DMANF) today announced a partnership with US Monitor, a mail monitor and list protection service,  to perform a first of its kind study to track delivery results within the United States Postal Service (USPS) nonprofit standard mail.

Recipients "triage" their mail, setting aside certain pieces to open before others. So the goal, according to Tempa Berish, owner of Philadelphia-based consultancy Chelsea Partners, is to make sure your mailpieces stand out.

If fundraising were a person, and he or she was on Facebook, I’d tag her/him with the nasty “25 Random Things” meme. We’d learn some surprising things about fundraising. But since fundraising itself is a mute nonentity, I’ve taken the job upon myself …

Temptation No. 1: Starting the project by writing the letter.
Here’s what’s happening: You’ve been assigned to create an acquisition package. You’re up for it because you have a great idea. You feel really good about that idea. You are sure it’s a winner. So you sit down and start writing the letter, right? Wrong. The letter is the very last thing you should create.

Sugarcoat it all you want, but offering premiums in an acquisition campaign is, essentially, bribery. And pretty unsubtle bribery at that.
You’re saying to a prospect, “Look, I’m afraid you don’t care enough about my organization’s work to support it out of 
passion or principle, so I’ll offer you this trinket to try and buy your loyalty.”
The dilemma is obvious. You’re going to have much greater loyalty from people who support you because they believe in your cause. But those premiums sure can bring in more donors. At least in the short run.
To a development director, the promise of the premium can be very alluring. For a relatively small investment in mailing labels or tote bags or whatever, you can reasonably predict that significantly more people will respond to your mailing.

April 14, 2009, The Chronicle of Philanthropy — Donations to 75 of the nation’s largest charities have fallen in the past year, adding to problems caused by a multi-year decline in the number of donors who give in response to direct-mail solicitations, online appeals, and telemarketing, according to a study released today.

According to a new white paper published by EU Services, companies and organizations in a variety of sectors — including publishing, finance, travel and nonprofit — are using variable data printing, micro websites, cross-media marketing, and web-to-print applications to sustain customer relationships. Consider how the following companies are using personalized communication with their customers to engender loyalty.

I’m beginning to think I’ve been placed on the equivalent of a No Fly List in one nonprofit’s direct-marketing database. Here’s what happened …

On Feb. 25, FundRaising Success hosted the webinar, “Integrated Direct Mail 101: An hour with Roger Craver.” Joining Roger, a fundraising guru and founder of Craver, Mathews, Smith & Co., for this lively conversation was his colleague Ryann Miller, managing director at the newly formed consultancy, DonorTrends.