Pulse : Raising Money by Mail

A new book lays out the seven essential steps for effective direct-mail fundraising campaigns.

SS: The rising costs related to printing and postage make it even more important to plan ahead. Then the group can compare service providers and get the best printing for the best prices. The Internet and e-mail appeals are a great way to reinforce the messages sent in direct-mail appeals. However, electronic communications don't completely replace regular mail.

SR: I don't know that now is any better or any worse of a time [to mail]. The thing that I keep saying to people is don't give up on it; don't be afraid to go ahead and spend some money to do direct mail, because we know it works. Nonprofits are scaling back on acquisitions, or they might reduce their number of donor renewals from four a year to three or from three to two. But I'm absolutely telling nonprofits don't completely give up on it because direct mail still works very, very well.

Yes, there's a lot of excitement around social media and a lot of nonprofits that are trying to figure out how to leverage Facebook and Twitter to raise a lot of money and take the place of things like direct mail, but it's just not happening. There are all kinds of reasons why that is, but I think a lot of nonprofits are still looking at direct mail as a tried-and-true technique for raising money.

FS: What are some of the biggest mistakes you see in mail solicitations?

SS: One of the biggest mistakes with smaller organizations is not customizing the letter enough. Some are still using "Dear Friend" instead of using the donor's name, often because they don't realize how easy computers make this personalization process.

SR: Mistakes are not a bad thing. I know some people that are so careful to not make mistakes that they hardly move forward. If you aren't making mistakes at least occasionally, you aren't pushing the envelope hard enough — and you are not raising as much money as you could be.

FS: How can organizations create a strategy that integrates mail with online communications, e-mail, face-to-face meetings, and events, etc.?

SS: Planning out your strategies on a one-year timetable will help you decide which [ones] deserve your attention and which are less effective and should be dropped. Keep the lines of communication open between the development office, executive director, other fundraising planners and those in charge of communications so everyone's on the same page. Regular e-mail updates sent from a designated person or a restricted e-mail group are practical and time-saving ways to keep people informed between in-person meetings.

SR: Having a strategic plan is very important, even if it's a very simple strategic plan. It's important to know what direction you're heading in … and to be developing diverse revenue streams. I run across organizations all the time that put all their eggs in one basket. And then when the basket falls, all the eggs break.

For example, an organization that I've been working with [had] relied on one grant for about 60 percent of its budget, and when the state cut revenue and that grant started to dry up, the organization was in trouble. I like to see organizations have … money coming from a lot of different sources. Direct mail is a good source because if you're working with a lot of individual donors, then the more you have on your mailing list, the more donors you're mailing to, and the more different little pots of money there essentially are. So if one donor goes away, it's OK; you can handle that. Not like if you have all your hopes pinned to one grant, and the one grant goes away; then you've got a big mess to deal with. So I'm a strong advocate of having multiple revenue streams and trying to get those balanced out so that when the bad times come, the organizations can weather it a little bit better.

FS: What's the most important thing to remember when launching a fundraising mail campaign?

SS: Who you are mailing to, and matching the message to that audience, is just as important [as the letter]. Grouping donors into a few categories such as nondonors, lapsed donors, major donors and event attendees can help you target recipients more effectively … help you reduce your postage and printing costs and increase your response rates. Once you have a list of just donors who you want to mail to, separate them based on their last gift size.

SR: I see too many organizations that say, "Well everybody else is doing direct mail; we need to do direct mail, too." And they don't really think through why they want to do it or what outcome they want, and so they don't really have a good way to measure success. If you're very clear why you want to send out an appeal, and you know who you're going to send it to, and you craft a good message that's going to appeal to the people you're sending to, then you're setting yourself up for success. If you get into knee-jerk fundraising … you're going to be disappointed.

Joe Boland is copy editor and staff writer for the Target Marketing Group at FS’ parent company, NAPCO. Reach him at jboland@napco.com

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