MORE IDEAS TO HELP INCREASE YOUR

NONPROFIT INCOME DURING STORMS

Post #26

September 5, 2023

Dear Conservative Leader/Activist,

Continuing from last week’s blog post.

Starting with the COVID pandemic in 2020, postal mail costs are up about 25%. Small dollar donations ($200 and under) are down about 25%. Therefore, most all of us can use some help.

Here are more ideas.

1. List co-ops.  Use a list co-op to enhance your prospect mail.  This will allow you to identify the 20-40% of the names that are least likely to donate, thereby significantly reducing the cost of your mailing but only slightly reducing your income.
2. Predictive dialing phone calls.  Every 2-3 months record a 30-40 second phone call from the person who signs the letter explaining the importance of the mailing they are about to receive.  This will increase your gross income with very little added cost.
3. Email.  About the time that donors are receiving a housefile mailing, send them an email urging them to respond to your mailing.  This will increase your gross income with very little added cost.
4. Monthly giving.  If you do not have a monthly giving program, start one. To help you understand best practices, I recommend reading Monthly Giving Made Easy by Erica Waasdorp and/or Hidden Gold by Harvey McKinnon.
5. Develop a unique digital landing page for each new housefile and/or project.  Remember about ¹/₃ of the people who consider donating will first go to the internet to check you out.  They may go to your website and/or a search engine.
6. Pubnote.  Since you will need to write and print postal mail far ahead of time, it may be out of date by the time you mail the letters.  A partial solution to the problem is to include a pubnote, usually 7 X 10 and 8 ½ X 11 that includes current information that is signed by someone besides the letter signer. Because it’s a small piece of paper and easy to print, this can usually be printed shortly before the mailing is inserted.
7. Buckslip.  The typical Buck Slip is 3 ½ X 8 ½ and is not signed. Sometimes they have a marketing message on both sides. Sometimes the state disclosure is printed on the back side.
8. Newsletters.  An organization’s newsletters are important for a number of reasons, including they allow you to be in touch with your donors without always including a strong appeal for money.  It’s okay to ask for a donation in a newsletter, just make it a soft request, and also have a section of the newsletter that encourages them to include your organization in their Will.

Next week, we’ll continue with more suggestions as to how to increase your income and reduce the costs of your direct mail program.