Category: Direct Mail

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The Last Four Days: When Online Giving Quintuples

Your year-end fundraising strategy must pay special attention to the last four days of the year. December is the most lucrative giving month of the year, and especially so for online giving. Approximately one out of every three dollars in annual giving is donated in December. In fact, 28% of nonprofits raise between 26% and 50% of their annual funds from their year-end drive. An additional 36% of nonprofits raise nearly 10% of their annual funds from their year-end ask. For online giving, the figure is even higher, with 12% of all annual online giving coming in the last four days. (Statistics

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A Nifty Tool To Improve Fundraising Copy

“Books are well written or badly written. That is all.” Well, whatever aesthetic criteria Oscar had in mind when talking about literature, we can now scientifically say the same for fundraising copy. All I’ve ever done is write copy (I mean, I’ve done other stuff with my life, but not for a living). But it’s only in the past year, since testing and launching the Copy Optimizer, I’ve had any objective criteria by which to assess whether anything I wrote was good or bad. In the fundraising world good or bad is defined by response rate. But despite endless drafts and rounds

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Behold, the Carbon Neutral Direct Mail Campaign!

By Roger M. Craver, JD. Last week, we celebrated Earth Day, which makes it an appropriate time for fundraisers to think about what we’re really doing — professionally, personally, and collectively — to save our planet. I’m not asking you to think about raising money for climate change or conservation. Instead, it’s time to consider how our practices are affecting our planet — and how we can take collective actions at our organizations to make a difference. In gathering my ball of string for this Earth Day post, I came across a LinkedIn post from Steve Falk, President and CEO of Canada’s Prime Data.

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Use this touchpoints as loudspeakers to maximize donor engagement.

7 Key Touchpoints to Keep Donors Engaged

By Alexa Strautmanis Seven is a golden number in marketing. As the “Rule of Seven” goes, an individual must see or interact with your nonprofit’s brand at least seven times in the course of a year before they’re inclined to take any action.  Following this rule is a best practice when it comes to donor engagement. Through multichannel marketing, these seven touches can be seamlessly woven into your nonprofit’s communications to keep your cause top-of-mind for new donors and deepen relationships with your current supporters. Your nonprofit may already be hitting this magic number. If you mail your constituents quarterly,

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Stop The Postal Rate Hike

This is an urgent postal alert. If your organization uses the U.S. Mail for fundraising, membership development, or communications you should be taking action today. Let me explain. The United…

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Top 7 Ways to Get More Response From Your Direct Mail Marketing

Today more than ever, consumers enjoy getting good mail pieces. What is good? There are three basic elements that determine the success of a direct mail marketing campaign: the list, the offer, and the creative.

In order to generate more response from your mail pieces, you need to look at all three of these elements. People only want direct mail that is relevant to them, and it’s up to marketers to deliver.

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A Comprehensive Guide to Your Year-End Drive

A Comprehensive Guide to Your Year-End Drive

By Laurence A. Pagnoni, MPA The most lucrative fundraising months of the year are now upon us: September through year-end. The heat is on. Are you ready? Two year-end appeal letters are required, not just one. The donor should receive the first appeal on the Monday before Thanksgiving, and the second on December 26th. The second letter is sent exclusively to those donors who have not yet replied to the first appeal. Allow me to explain. With the fast pace of the holidays, if you don’t give your donors a few gentle reminders, your appeal is likely to get overlooked.

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The Fundraiser’s Annual Calendar

The Fundraiser’s Annual Calendar

By Laurence A. Pagnoni, MPA There are three critical periods in the fundraiser’s annual calendar that you should know about. They are as follows: Period I: The January Surprise This is the second most lucrative time for fundraising. Period II: Summertime July and August – the perceived least favorable time, but there are exceptions. Period III: Year-End October through December – the most lucrative time for donors to give and for nonprofits to receive donations. Do these three periods match your experience? Your agency’s actual experience should be infused, so modify my suggestions to fit your circumstances. Later on, I will suggest

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Raise Donors, Not Donations

Raise Donors, Not Donations

Are you willing to spend $1.50 to raise $1? To lose money to make money? You should be. Most donor acquisition mailings never pay for themselves. They lose money. And rightly so.

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