Why direct mail is great for many fundraisers
- It's where most charitable giving is happening today. Direct mail where the action is. If you want to make the big time in fundraising, you probably need to be involved in direct mail.
- It makes other media work. Direct mail is the best driver of online giving. It's part of the transaction in most telefundraising. If direct mail were to "die," all other fundraising would be in serious trouble too.
- It's relatively predictable. You can pencil out with some accuracy how things will go with a well-run direct mail program. Easier to budget for than other media.
- It has a stable and well-established canon of best practices. Hire experienced direct mail fundraising writers and designers, and you can expect a solid and likely-to-perform product.
Why direct mail might not be for you
- Entry cost. Getting started is the hard part. You will go into the red when you start. If you're lucky, you'll start turning a profit after a year.
- Quantity/cost. Direct mail is least affordable (on a per-piece basis) at low quantities. If you have a file of fewer than 25,000 donors, the numbers are against you. You will struggle to make it work, even if your results are strong.
- Universe. If your universe of potential donors is narrow -- because of psychographics (such as left-handed gun-owners who eat gluten free) or geography (such as residents of the upper west side of Queen Anne Hill in Seattle) -- it may be impossible to build a direct-mail file that's big enough to work.
- Best practices are weird. Your boss or some other authorities may want to make you do it all wrong! This factor torpedoes many direct mail fundraising programs.
If you're considering diving into direct mail, take a look at these factors and make sure it's possible for it to eventually be a profitable source of income.
from Future Fundraising Now http://ift.tt/2f7uaCt
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