DM Diagnosis: What’s New?

In a world where donors have seen it all, nonprofits find fresh ways of approaching old ideas. Vietnam Veterans of America gives its prospects a large plastic bag to donate unwanted items.

June 2007 By Kimberly Seville

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One unusual membership card arrived from Native American Rights Fund. Showing through a second window on a 6-inch-by-9-inch outer envelope, it’s made of plastic and personalized with my name, though not with embossed lettering. The National Rifle Association sent something similar, but the personalization is in light blue on top of a dark-red stripe in the American flag and it is nearly illegible. Oops.

Interestingly, I see the most credit card-quality membership cards from the conservatives, just a few from apolitical groups like UNICEF, and none at all from the progressives. (But then, from a production values standpoint, the conservatives usually do have the sexiest mail.)

Double your donations
A matching-gift offer is another classic I see with frequency in both acquisition and house mailings. I’ve received at least one every week for the last couple of months, in fact.

Some illustrate the matching- gift offer with coupons, faux checks or “registered documents” requiring my signature. Nearly all “do the math” and spell out how a gift will be matched. And that’s wise.

“Donors aren’t accountants,” Yoda often advised. “Make it easy for them.”

For organizations able to secure matching funds, the offer usually is one of the best performers of the year. And for the lucky few like CARE that regularly receive government grants that can be used as matching funds, it can be a control offer in acquisition year-round.

But what if you don’t have match money? Make-A-Wish recently sent me some “Wishbucks” to buy hope for children who are seriously ill. While this is not a matching-gift offer, it almost feels like one because of the Wishbucks coupons, a familiar component in countless matching-gift packages.

Each of the four Wishbucks coupons has a value based on my gift history, and each has a photo and story of a child’s wish. And the letter gives additional examples of children’s wishes, encouraging me to return one or more of the Wishbucks with my donation made out in the same amount.

There is nothing deceptive about this package, and in no way does it pretend to be a matching-gift offer. But it has taken a successful matching-funds technique and made it Make-A-Wish’s own. Bravo!

Turning trash into treasure
Vietnam Veterans of America and Lupus Foundation of America have an interesting offer in the mail these days. The 5.5-inch-by-7.75-inch closed-face, white outer is addressed to “Resident” and contains only one item: a large plastic bag. No letter, no reply device, no return envelope — none required, because everything is printed on the carrier envelope.

In essence, they’re trolling for junk and, if you’ve got any, you simply put it in the bag and it will be picked up on the appointed day. Both organizations clearly explain that donated items will be sold to for-profit wholesale buyers and proceeds will support the groups’ missions.

But here’s the weird thing: While the Lupus Foundation understandably requests, “Please, no furniture or large items,” Vietnam Veterans of America asks, “Please … no cash donations.”

Wouldn’t it seem any nonprofit organization engaged in junkraising could benefit from a reply envelope inside the package along with the plastic bag? Because even though they’re not using fundraising-responsive lists to hunt for junk (nor are they targeting direct-mail responsive lists at all, in fact), why turn away occasional cash gifts that would at least help cover the cost of the solicitation?

New offers might not materialize every day, but new ways of approaching old ones can. Let us be luminous beings in that endeavor.

Kimberly Seville is a creative strategist and freelance copywriter. Contact: kimberlyseville@yahoo.com.

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