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Fundraising Tuesday: Is Direct Mail Useful for Nonprofits? Here’s What to Know

January 16, 2024 by Dennis Fischman Leave a Comment

A guest post by Joshua Meyer of Bloomerang

As far as nonprofit marketing is concerned, it doesn’t get more classic than direct mail. Large-scale direct mail has been a staple of nonprofit communications for decades. However, with the dominance of online fundraising, you may be wondering if direct mail is still worth the investment.

16% of donors still prefer to give using direct mail, second to online donations, but still a decent portion of nonprofit supporters. This guide will explore the benefits of keeping direct mail in your fundraising strategy, along with best practices for achieving a high return on investment (ROI) via direct mail.

Benefits of Direct Mail for Nonprofits

Direct mail empowers nonprofits with the following advantages:

Offers a high return on investment (ROI). Direct mail has an average response rate of 5.3%, compared to 0.1% for email, 0.6% for paid search ads, and 0.2% for online display advertising.
Helps your nonprofit stand out. Receiving a personally addressed letter makes supporters feel more individually recognized and helps cut through the digital noise.
Appeals to multiple senses. People are more likely to remember information that they process using more than one sense. With direct mail, supporters can process your nonprofit’s message using their senses of vision and touch.
Helps connect with older audiences. Research shows older adults prefer receiving more traditional forms of communication, such as printed materials and verbal communications.

Many supporters still feel a sense of excitement at receiving a letter personally addressed with their name. Direct mail can provide a compelling look into your nonprofit’s activities and reach donors outside the busy digital environment.

Tips for Leveraging Direct Mail Effectively

Just like any marketing strategy, direct mail requires you to have a concrete plan that enables you to take a thoughtful and strategic approach. You’ll have the most success with your direct mail strategy when you incorporate the following best practices:

Alt: List of tips for leveraging direct mail effectively for nonprofits (explained in the text below)

Personalize your outreach

80% of consumers are more likely to shop from a brand that offers personalized experiences. The same is true for your nonprofit’s supporters—they appreciate personalized marketing messages that speak to their unique interests.

Personalize your direct mail by following these tips:

Address letters with supporters’ names.
Reference past interactions.
Have your executive director sign letters.

For example, let’s say you’re sending out invitations for your nonprofit’s annual silent auction event. Here’s an example of a letter you might send:

Dear Angela,

Thank you for your past donation of $100 on September 15, 2023, and your participation in our Spring 5K and Fun Run. Because of your generosity and past event attendance, we wanted to personally invite you to our annual New Year’s Eve Gala and Silent Auction on December 31, 2023. Please RSVP using the link or QR code at the bottom of this page. Hope to see you there!

Best wishes,

[Your executive director’s signature]

According to Bloomerang’s donor management software guide, a powerful donor management system is your most effective tool for personalization. Use your donor management system to store donors’ personal information and implement it into your direct mail outreach.

Tell stories

Stories tend to be easier to remember and more engaging than facts alone. They help audience members build an emotional connection to your cause. Implement these tips when telling stories via direct mail:

Write in a skimmable format. Use short paragraphs and break up text blocks using bullet points.
Incorporate visuals. Images that show people’s faces tend to work best for sparking an emotional connection.
Spotlight key messages using bolding or underlining. Make sure donors can understand your main message with just a glance.

Highlight one main protagonist in your story, such as a community member who received support from your nonprofit or the reason a board member joined your board. This practice keeps your storytelling more focused and allows readers to feel emotionally connected to your main character.

Leverage multichannel fundraising

Fundraising research shows that marketing campaigns that used direct mail and one or more digital media elements experienced a 118% boost in response rate compared to those that used direct mail alone.

Combine direct mail outreach with digital fundraising initiatives to create cohesion across your marketing channels and offer multiple donor touchpoints. For example, include a QR code or vanity URL on your letters or postcards that sends supporters to your online donation form.

This helps keep your message top-of-mind for donors while reaching them in unique ways that don’t overwhelm them with excessive communications.

Keep your content donor-focused

Your letters should stay focused on your supporters themselves and their accomplishments, not your nonprofit. Use mostly second-person words, such as “you” and “your” instead of first-person words like “our” or “I.” This distinction shows donors that your nonprofit couldn’t complete its mission without supporters’ tireless efforts and involvement.

For example, instead of saying:

Our nonprofit just reached its 2023 fundraising goal!

Say:

Your generous support helped raise $30,000 this year for animal welfare!

Run your copy through a communications audit tool to ensure readability and donor-centricity.

Choose metrics to assess progress

Metrics or key performance indicators (KPIs) will help you assess your progress and your direct mail strategy’s effectiveness. Track metrics such as:

New donor acquisition rate
Conversion rates from direct mail (whether for donations, event signups, volunteer registrations, etc.)
Direct mail donor retention rate
Average direct mail donation amount
Direct mail ROI

Make sure to also track donor demographics and characteristics for donors who engage the most with your direct mail messages. You can create a new marketing persona using patterns and trends that emerge in your direct mail audience. This segmentation can help refine your direct mail marketing over time as you learn more about your target audience and design your materials to appeal to their interests.

As you craft your nonprofit’s online fundraising strategy, don’t forget about the role that direct mail can still play in your fundraising success. Direct mail can deliver the additional personal touch many supporters need to take the leap and become donors, volunteers, or advocates.

Author: Joshua Meyer

Joshua Meyer brings more than 20 years of fundraising, volunteer management, and marketing experience to his current role as the VP of Demand Generation for Bloomerang. As a member of the Bloomerang marketing team, Josh manages the organization’s growth marketing efforts. Through his previous roles at the Human Rights Campaign and OneCause, he has a passion for helping to create positive change and helping nonprofits engage new donors and achieve their fundraising goals

Fundraising Tuesday: 4 Inspiring Fundraising Ideas for the Season of Giving

January 9, 2024 by Dennis Fischman Leave a Comment

Remember these ideas in 2024! A guest post by Brad Dowhaniuk of 99 Pledges

As a nonprofit fundraiser, you’re aware of how important the year-end is to your organization’s fundraising goals. The M+R Benchmarks report shows that donations received in December comprise 26% of the average nonprofit’s annual revenue. In 2022, nonprofits received 5% of their annual revenue on the last day of the year.

The last few months of the year hold so much potential for nonprofits—but how can you maximize your fundraising success, and, in turn, your annual budget? In this guide, we’ll explore some of the top fundraising ideas and strategies to leverage during the end of the year:

Add a twist to traditional fundraisers.
Sell seasonal items.
Participate in Giving Tuesday.
Hold a holiday-themed gathering.

1. Add a twist to traditional fundraisers.

As NXUnite by Nexus Marketing’s guide to the year-end giving season explains, the term refers to “the spike in charitable giving that happens during the last few months of the year.” This surge in giving likely happens because people feel more inclined to donate during the holidays that occur in November and December.

Because this season can be busy, you may want to stick to fundraisers you’ve already tried before. Here’s how you can add a holiday-themed twist to these more basic campaigns to make them feel special and season-appropriate:

5Ks and fun runs: This classic idea is easy to organize, tends to be highly successful, and is extremely adaptable. Add in a theme that makes the fundraiser feel more festive, like naming it a “Turkey Trot” and asking participants to dress up in Thanksgiving-related costumes.
Auction: Try procuring auction items that match the season. For example, you may feature a bath set with scents like peppermint and fir trees, a basket of baked goods like gingerbread cookies, and tickets to a showing of The Nutcracker.
Contests: Like fun runs, contests can be adjusted to fit many contexts. For fundraisers that take place in the fall, you may host a pumpkin carving contest or chili cook-off. For those that happen later in the year, consider organizing an ugly sweater contest or gingerbread house decorating competition.

Remember to consider your audience when adapting more traditional fundraising ideas. If you are fundraising for your school, for example, you might opt for an education-centered idea like a festive read-a-thon. Remember to plan ahead as 99Pledges’ guide to holding read-a-thons recommends gathering tools and supplies like fundraising software, written instructions for participants, reading logs, and prizes for the best results.

2. Sell seasonal items.

While your organization likely has a large, cohesive fundraising campaign that you carefully planned for the end of the year, you can complement these efforts with additional low-lift, online fundraising ideas.

Specifically, consider selling season-specific, branded merchandise. Supporters will appreciate the opportunity to donate to your cause and receive a new item at the same time.

This strategy will be easier if your organization already sells merchandise and has factors like designs, suppliers, and an online store in place. To add a special touch, you might create your standard merchandise in holiday colors like orange, dark green, or red and add symbols or images that represent the holidays, such as turkeys or snowmen.

Make sure to promote these items as “exclusive” or “limited-time offers” so your supporters feel a sense of urgency to purchase them. And, if you have leftover inventory, you can sell them for a discounted price when the season ends.

3. Participate in Giving Tuesday.

Giving Tuesday is a global day of giving that takes place annually on the Tuesday following Thanksgiving. This day is meant to redirect the consumerist nature of Black Friday and Cyber Monday to charitable causes instead.

As a 501(c)(3) charity, your nonprofit is automatically eligible to participate in Giving Tuesday. Here are a few tips that can make the day run more smoothly:

Set goals. Understand how much you’ll need to raise on this day to keep your nonprofit on track to meet its annual goals. You may consider setting tiered goals (e.g., a minimum you must reach to sustain operations, a target just above your minimum, and a more ambitious goal above that one).
Promote ahead of time. Those outside of the mission-driven sector may not be aware of Giving Tuesday, so be sure to share about it. Communicate through social media and other online platforms to engage younger members of your audience.
Test and optimize technology. Make sure all of your technology, including your fundraising software and website, is fully functional and can handle increased traffic. If needed, revise your donation form to be more streamlined.

While your organization will likely continue to raise most of its year-end revenue during the final month of the year, placing a focus on Giving Tuesday will give you a cushion that could push you beyond your goal for the year.

4. Hold a holiday-themed gathering.

Across many cultures and religions, the holiday season is about spending time with family and friends and creating warm memories. Holding a gathering for your supporters allows you to cultivate these relationships while you fundraise.

Here are some simple ways to gather your supporters together and build those connections:

Share a meal together, like a Thanksgiving potluck
Hold an afterschool winter ball with dancing and refreshments
Ice skate and sip hot chocolate
Host a bonfire with s’mores and hot dogs

To fundraise at these gatherings, simply sell tickets beforehand. Encourage supporters to purchase tickets online so the gathering itself can remain focused on relationships.

Whether you organize an engaging seasonal fundraising event that inspires donations or put all of your energy into a well-crafted online initiative, preparing ahead of time with thorough planning is crucial. Remember that what your nonprofit does during this season can completely change its trajectory for the coming year.

Author: Brad Dowhaniuk

Brad Dowhaniuk is the co-founder of 99Pledges, which provides schools and teams with an easy-to-use, web-based fundraising solution to manage and drive success in Fun Runs, jog-a-thons, baseball hit-a-thons, and much more.

Fundraising Tuesday: 13 Things to Stop Doing in 2024

January 2, 2024 by Dennis Fischman Leave a Comment

Are you making resolutions about your nonprofit’s fundraising for the new year? What you commit to STOP doing may be just as important as what you actually do. Share on X

I want to say that in general, the dozens of appeal letters I received in 2023 were better than the ones you sent me five or ten years before. Congratulations! But I still see too many letters that make one (or all) of these mistakes:

Sending your mail in a blank, standard-size envelope, with no return address. (The donor will pitch it into the recycling bin without reading it, and all your work will go to waste.)
Using “Dear Friend” as your salutation instead of calling the donor by name. (Any decent database or CRM will help you solve that problem!)
Omitting the postscript, which is one of the first things to catch a donor’s eye.
Creating a “wall of text,” with narrow margins and no bold, italic, or underlined words to tell your story quickly.
Leaving out photos and graphics.
Talking about what the organization needs and not what the person or cause you’re trying to help needs. Similarly…
Making the organization the hero when it should be the donor in that role!
Talking about we, the organization–instead of we, the donor and the organization together!
Telling a success story in the appeal letter. Nonprofits should be telling those stories all year long. In the appeal, tell the story of someone who still needs help, right now.
Telling NO stories.
Not making it easy to give. You need to include a reply vehicle and reply envelope AND tell people how to give online.
Not asking for a specific amount that’s slightly higher than that same donor gave last year. (Again, this is a job for your CRM!)
Not sending mail at all. Even if you made all the other mistakes, and even though email costs less, direct mail is still the most productive form of fundraising, so do not neglect it!

If you stop doing these things, you will bring in more money for your organization, both in 2024 and for the long term.

Thanks for reading! In coming weeks, I’ll take a look at some of the best appeal letters I got in 2023–and share ideas about what you can do right.

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Fundraising Tuesday: Is Direct Mail Useful for Nonprofits? Here’s What to Know

Benefits of Direct Mail for Nonprofits