Blueprint Fundraising

Hi! Back from holidays and I’m thinking about the mail. Annual appeals. Renewals. Prospecting. If you are planning some big campaigns this fall, you might be wondering how the election will affect your direct mail program. Will your donors be so focused on Stephen vs Stephane or McCain vs Obama or Sarah Palin’s hair that your appeal will be forgotten? Will donors direct their gifts to political campaigns instead of your cause?

This is something that several clients have asked me about and so I’ve done some digging. As you can imagine, this is a big concern for nonprofits in the United States. Merkle, a US direct mail firm, has published a white paper on this very subject: “Examining the Impact of Political Fundraising on Non-Profit Direct Mail Performance.” Their conculsion: historical analysis indicates a highly active political campaign season should have little or no significant impact on a charity’s ability to fundraise via direct mail. Good news.

So no excuses. Get your letters written now!

Dear Mrs. Smith…

Related Posts:

• Ups and downs in direct mail
• BC Association for Community Living
• Delving deeper into direct mail research
• Writing
• Tip of the Week: Get your money’s worth from fundraising staff or consultants

This entry was posted on Monday, September 8th, 2008 at 1:07 pm and is filed under Ideas. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response.