I am a big believer in direct mail—old school hand signed letter in an envelope to an individual carried by the postman—as one of the most potent forms of ongoing organizational communications with a large number of donors, and this article from The Nonprofit Times notes its continuing importance.
Also, a great how-to book I recommend is Building Your Direct Mail Program.
An excerpt from the Nonprofit Times article.
“As George Carlin said, the trouble with experience is that we don't get it until after we need it. Nonprofit decision-makers would love for the Great Recession to be over so they can put the bitter experience behind them, but the economy is still mired in a recovery that nobody notices.
“During the DMA Nonprofit Federation conference, Craig Finstad of the American Lung Association said that his organization has learned lessons about mailing during the recession, and he passed some of those lessons along.
“* If your piece is not in their mailbox, someone else's is. The strategy is to stay in front of renewal donors. The organization resisted pressure to cut the number of appeals without testing.
“* If you mail it, they will come.”
About
- David H. Lukenbill
- I am a California native, married, we have one daughter and live close to the American River with two cats and all the wild critters we can feed. I am a management consultant to nonprofit organizations and have an Associates of Arts degree in Administration of Justice from Sacramento City College, a Bachelor of Science degree in Organizational Behavior from the University of San Francisco and a Master of Public Administration degree, also from the University of San Francisco.