Blueprint Fundraising

Flying Squad grant program expands

Arts organizations will be happy to know that the Canada Council’s Flying Squad program is expanding. The program helps organizations hire consultants to work on organizational capacity building in areas such as fundraising, marketing, business planning and financial management. For years the funds have been available to theatre and dance companies only. Now the program is open to organizations from all disciplines. The next deadline is November 15, 2005.

Ups and downs in direct mail

Hi everyone! I’m back from holidays and had an excellent time. I hope you had a good month too.

As we get ready for the fall — the best and busiest time for direct mail — keep this new research on premiums in mind. The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports on some research by direct mail firm ParadyszMatera showing:

• Direct mail is not attracting gifts from as many people as it once did. The number of people who made donations in response to a direct-mail appeal fell in 2004 (according to the study of 21 groups who mailed more than 250 million pieces in 2004). However the size of the average gift increased.
• The response fell more for mail with premiums — items such as labels, greeting cards, and calendars — than for solicitations that did not include such tokens.
• The number of people who donated money fell from 2003 to 2004 by a median of 5.8 percent for appeals with premiums — compared with 5.2 percent for solicitations that did not have premiums.
• The size of the average donation increased by a median of 2.9 percent for mail with premiums compared with 4.9 percent for other mail.
• The firm speculates that the poorer showing for mail with premiums could reflect saturation — an abundance of such gifts from charities.