Mail Superiority: How to Run a Profitable Annual Direct Mail Fundraising Program.

Learn the proven, step-by-step process for raising funds and friends cost effectively, year after year.

And yet direct mail fundraising remains one of the most cost-effective ways to raise funds. Many non-profit organizations depend on the mail for over 50% of their contributed income each year.

Over the years, successful direct mail fundraisers have discovered that the route to results lies in following some time-tested principles. You'll learn them in this book . . .

• how direct mail fundraising works
• why you should plan to lose money on your acquisition mailings (and why your board shouldn't mind)
• four goals of every renewal fundraising letter
• response rates, net profit, cost to raise a dollar and other vital signs of your success
• key steps you must follow every year to retain donors
• why donors give—and what makes them stop

Peek inside the e-book

Learn the insider secrets of running a profitable direct mail fundraising letter program

How can you raise money with direct mail when you never seem to have enough hours in your day—or money in your budget—to do the job properly? You need a plan. A step-by-step plan that helps you save time, reduce costs and still meet your fundraising goals.

In Mail Superiority: How to Run a Profitable Annual Direct Mail Fundraising Program, you'll learn the tested methods that leading charities use to raise money through the mail. You'll learn the mistakes to avoid, the best practices to implement today, and the tips, techniques and shortcuts that you can use for years to come.

Table of Contents

PART ONE
Why Direct Mail Fundraising is So Powerful

1. Why You Must Master Direct Mail Fundraising 4

• Eighty percent of your income comes from individuals
• Most individual donors start with a small gift
• Direct mail is expensive
• Direct mail is difficult

2. Three Goals of Direct Mail Fundraising 6

• Goal #1: Acquire new donors each year
• Goal #2: Renew your donors each year
• Goal #3: Upgrade your donors

3. How a Direct Mail Fundraising Program Works 10

• DM fundraising is a program, not a series of mailings
• Runs for 12 months
• Repeats every 12 Months
• Characterized by incremental improvements from testing
• Works by building a broad base of support

4. What You Need to Succeed in Direct Mail Fundraising 18

• You need a case for support with broad appeal
• You need new donors you can reach cost-effectively
• You need dedicated fundraising software 
• You need an obsession with your data
• You need a dedicated team
• You need a commitment to donor-centered fundraising
• You need a commitment to brand differentiation
• You need a commitment to segmentation
• You need frequency and volume
• You need a commitment that lasts for decades

5. Fourteen Reasons Strangers Respond to DM Acquisition Letters 31

• Reason # 1: They hunt for meaning in life
• Reason # 2: They want to meet an immediate need
• Reason # 3: They want to receive a personal benefit
• Reason # 4: They want to join others in a worthy cause
• Reason # 5: They want to achieve status
• Reason # 6: They are angry
• Reason # 7: They are altruistic
• Reason # 8: They are idealistic
• Reason # 9: They give for religious reasons
• Reason # 10: They give to solve a problem
• Reason # 11: They give to save on taxes
• Reason # 12: They give to achieve immortality
• Reason # 13: They give to reduce guilt
• Reason # 14: They give because they’re fearful

PART TWO
How to Acquire New Donors with Direct Mail 36

6. How Direct Mail Donor Acquisition Works 37

• Direct mail donor acquisition loses money initially
• DM donor acquisition needs a popular cause to succeed
• DM donor acquisition needs volume to succeed
• DM donor acquisition needs other mailings to succeed
• Four tests to see if DM donor acquisition is right for you

7. Eight Steps for Acquiring Donors with Direct Mail 44

• Step #1: Develop your case for support
• Step #2: Clone your best donors
• Step #3: Find the names of potential donors
• Step #4: Create a package
• Step #5: Test the package against your lists
• Step #6: Rollout
• Step #7: Follow up with new donors
• Step #8: Measure your results

8. How to Get the Most from Direct Mail Donor Acquisition 60

• Mistakes to avoid
• Why donors stop responding to direct mail appeals
• How donor acquisition integrates with annual campaigns
• Easy ways to reduce donor attrition rates
• Save money on DM acquisition mailings through testing

9. How Donor Acquisition Mailings Differ from Donor Renewal Mailings 66

PART THREE
Anatomy of a Donor Acquisition Package 70

10. Anatomy of a Donor Acquisition Package 70

• Outer envelope
• Letter
• Brochure
• Reply device
• Survey
• Reply envelope

11. Why Donor Acquisition Letters are Longer 107

PART FOUR
How to Renew Your Donors with Direct Mail 110

12. Why You Must Renew Your Donors 112

• Avoid donors who never renew
• Donors demand three things before they give again

13. Thank-you Letters, Cards and Notes 118

• Four reasons you must mail thank-you letters, cards
  and notes
• Thank your donors using the four P’s
• Anatomy of an effective thank-you letter

14. Before You Ask Again, W-I-N Them 129

• Welcome your donors
• Involve your donors
• Give your donors News

15. Use Newsletters to Boost Donor Loyalty 136

• Nine common donor newsletter mistakes to avoid 137

16. How to Craft Fundraising Letters that Renew Donors 141

• Four goals of renewal letters
• Mail a series of renewal appeals
• Think friends, not funds
• Treat donor groups differently
• Treat high, medium and low donors differently
• Spend time and money on your most promising donors
• Think recency, frequency and monetary value

PART FIVE
Testing, Tracking and Analyzing with Confidence 170

17. Your Data Never Lies (but it Misleads if You Let it) 152

18. Testing Your Donor Acquisition Package 156

• Goal #1: Test as many lists as possible
• Goal #2: Acquire as many donors as possible
• Goal #3: Recover your costs
• Goal #4: Discover which package performs best
• Goal #5: Discover if direct mail is a cost effective way
  for your organization to acquire donors
• Create your test package
• Choose lists to test
• How to budget for a typical mailing

19. Tracking Your Results 163

• Rule #1: Test things that are significant
• Rule #2: Test things you can control
• Rule #3: Make your test large enough to be significant
• Rule #4: Test one thing at a time
• Rule #5: Don’t let large gifts skew your results
• Rule #6: Acquire loyal donors in greatest numbers
  at lowest cost
• Rule #7: If starting out, acquire as many donors as
  possible
• Rule #8: Test every time you mail
• Test prospect lists
• Test the size of the initial gift in your ask string
• Test premiums, front and back end
• Test involvement devices
• Test outer envelopes
• Test personalization
• Test the length of your letters
• Test new packages
• Avoid these mistakes

20. Analyzing with Confidence 170

• 1: Cost per thousand
• 2: Cost per piece
• 3: Response count
• 4: Response rate
• 5: Gross income
• 6: Net Income
• 7: Average gift
• 8: Average cost per gift
• 9: Return on your investment
• 10: Cost to raise a dollar
• 11: Cost to acquire a donor
• 12: Net income per thousand pieces
• 13: Renewal rate
• 14: Attrition rate
• 15: Donor loyalty
• Direct Mail Fundraising Return On Investment

21. Response Rates to Expect in Direct Mail Fundraising 185

PART SIX
Planning Your Year 188

22. Ask Early, Ask Of ten, Ask the Right Way 190

23. What Should You Mail? 196

• Acquisition letters
• Newsletters
• Renewal letters
• Major donor letters
• Lapsed donor recovery letters
• Special appeals

24. How to Plan a Typical Mailing 208

Working backwards from your drop date

PART SEVEN
Keys to Your Success 212

25. Divide and Conquer 214

• Segmentation
• Concentrate on your best donors

26. Build Your List Three Ways 218

• Method #1: Build Your List Yourself
• Method #2: Rent A List From Someone Else
• Method #3: Use A List Broker To Create A Custom List

27. How List Brokers Can Help Your Appeal 220

A typical list rental transaction

28. How to Upgrade Your Donors Over Time 222

29. Increase Your Average Fundraising Gift By Segmenting
Your File 224

30. Improve Donor Tenure and You’ll Boost Revenue 226

• Learn from the for-profit world

31. Answers to Common Questions 228

• Q. How many times a year should I mail my donors?
• Q. When should we drop people them from our list?
• Q. How can we save money with donors who don't give?

32. 41 Things You Can Mail to Your Donors 231

33. A Helpful List of DM Fundraising List Brokers and Managers 235

Glossary of Direct Mail Fundraising Terms 237

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