How to make direct mail fundraising work for even small shops.

1. Big Direct Mail
for Small Shops
Reaching 20 to 20,000 donors
without losing your mind

2. About us
Rosie Blankenship
Also a journalism major.
Also not a math major.
Annual Giving
• 76,397 DM pieces
in four+ mailings annually
• 64,000 magazines
• a few thousand invitations
• a few thousand newsletters
• a few dozens of proposals
Donor database
• 5,368 donors last FY
• About 9,130 current donors
(gift within last three years)
• About 2,667 lapsed
(last gift 3-5 years ago)
• 100,952 in database (living)
Bethany Warner
Journalism major.
Not a math major.
Annual Giving
• 6,000 DM pieces in four
annual mailings
• 20,000 newsletter copies (paper and
electronic)
• Invitations
• Proposals
Donor database
• ~1,400 donors last FY
• 10,000+ records in database

3. Goal
Our goal isn’t to talk about how to write
the perfect direct mail letter.
• We want you to think about how
to get your perfect letters into
the hands of the right recipients.
• Then, track & report to guide
future mailings.

4. Segmentation
Sending different letters
to different groups of people.
Why?
• Saves money
• Increases income
• Mail fewer people,
better response
• Donors feel more
connected

5. Mal Warwick says …
• Sending all of your
mailings to your whole list
is a tragic mistake.
• Targeted mailings save
time and increase
income.
• Pay the most attention to
the segments that are the
most faithful in giving:
o long-term annual donors
o higher-end donors

6. Ways to segment
• By amount
• By last gift date
• By volunteer
status/type
• By constituency
o business type
o event attendee
o board member
o program interests
• By generation,
location or other
demographic
• By giving status
o New (second gift ask)
o Lapsed
o Donors who downgraded
giving

7. Segment by gift amount
• By actual amount
• By grouping
amounts
• By increasing last gift
by a % and rounding
Donor gave $50 last year
You will ask for $75 this year.
Everyone who gave $50-100
last year gets asked for $150
this year.
Three donors gave $25, $40, $60
last year, respectively.
You want to apply a 25%
increase across the board for
asks.
This results in asks of $31.25, $50,
$75.
You will round to $35, $50, $75.
(Thanks, Excel!)

8. Segment by last gift date
• Current donors
o Those whose last gift was in the past year (2014)
• Almost current donors
o Those who gave the previous year (2013), but not last year (traditional
LYBUNT)
• Lapsed donors
o Those who gave in 2012
• Long-lapsed donors
o Those who gave in 2010-2011

9. Segment by geography
By amount
Photos from three program sites, sent to donors in the same region as the site.
This was a very inexpensive insert, as we color copied these!

10. Segment by interest
End of year mailing: alpaca segment
 Reused flyer, included
response form
 Photos were
repurposed from
website
 Stories repurposed
from blog
 Letterhead & carrier
envelope standard
 Boring response
envelope!
 Everything coded

11. Segment by interest
End of year mailing:
A/B split and other donor segments
 Nearly identical letter
for other three
segments
 Standard carrier,
response (form printed
on envelope)
 A/B split
• $50-150 giving
history
• A asked for “a gift”
• B asked for $175
 Donor segment asked
for “a gift”
 All coded (four
segments total)

12. Results
Alpaca segment has outperformed all expectations.
Donors in segment have — so far — increased
their total giving over last FY by 22%
This interest segment for EOY 2013 and 2014
• 43% of donors increased giving over last year
• Increased $$$ given by 9.07%
For alpaca campaign:
• Same donors increased giving by 92% over previous FY
• Response rate down compared to last time interest segment received a
mailing (1.55% in December 2014; 2.95% in June 2014)
• But income up by 3½ times!
• Bigger gifts (because DM set $$$)
• And … the big news …
campaign overall increased by FIVE TIMES the previous FY

13. Messaging
• Simple or complicated?
• One or two personalized lines
• Personalized ask
• Entirely different letters for
different segments
• Continue the “story”
of how you spent their money from their last gift

14. How can one person
make this happen?
• Keeping good data on constituents
• Clean database
• Spreadsheets!
• Mail merge
expertise
• Or a great
mail house/or great
staff
• …and PLAN AHEAD

15. IndyPL Foundation:
How we get it done
• Mostly in house for all mailings
o Outsourced envelopes because of time
• Write, route, print
o Every piece of the mailing goes through other eyes

16. The mailing calendarStart Date End Date Item Staff Member Status Notes Project
13-Oct Draft Letter BKW Nov FOL
15-Oct IAA update BKW Esends
17-Oct Letter to Laura BKW/LW Nov FOL
22-Oct Approval from Bryce BKW/BB Nov FOL
8-Oct 22-Oct Write Imagine Content BKW Dec Imagine
27-Oct Pull November FOL Mailing list JP/BKW Nov FOL
27-Oct Clean up mailing list JP Nov FOL
27-Oct Segment list BKW Nov FOL
15-Oct 29-Oct Write Legacy Content BKW Legacy
27-Oct 29-Oct Route Mailing list BKW/LW/RKJ Nov FOL
30-Oct Imagine draft to Laura BKW/LW Dec Imagine
30-Oct Sort list for mailing JP Nov FOL
31-Oct Envelopes to Inkwell JP Nov FOL
27-Oct 31-Oct November book sale reminder BKW Esends
3-Nov 4-Nov Draft/Route Remit Form ALL Nov FOL
4-Nov 5-Nov IAA update BKW esends
4-Nov 5-Nov Approval from Danny BKW/DD Nov FOL
6-Nov Legacy draft to Roberta BKW/RKJ Legacy
6-Nov 7-Nov Print Remit backs JP Nov FOL
6-Nov 10-Nov Route Imagine to staff all Dec Imagine
11-Nov 13-Nov send Imagine to donors for approvalBKW Dec Imagine
13-Nov Route Legacy to staff all Legacy
14-Nov Envelopes back JP/BKW Nov FOL
17-Nov 18-Nov Print remit fronts JP Nov FOL
17-Nov 19-Nov send Legacy to donors for approval BKW Legacy
18-Nov imagine proof to Dynamark BKW Dec Imagine
19-Nov 20-Nov Print letters JP Nov FOL
21-Nov Mailing Party ALL Nov FOL
24-Nov Legacy proof to KI Brands BKw Legacy
24-Nov Pull Imagine mailing list JP/BKW Dec Imagine
24-Nov 26-Nov Imagine e-send version BKW Dec Imagine
3-Dec Imagine mails BKW Dec Imagine
November FOL esend BKW Nov FOL
8-Dec Legacy mails BKW Legacy
16-Dec IAA Update BKW esends

17. The MAGIC of
spreadsheets
• Learn how to use Excel (or similar)
• Database can do a lot; Excel will do the rest
• Google is your friend

18. Concatenate
Let’s you combine multiple cells
with additional information

19. If/then

20. Round
Round, Roundup, Mround, Ceiling, Floor
– rounding functions

21. Tracking
• Have a plan in advance!
• Is data entry person on board?
• Code your letters, envelopes, response
cards
This can be part of the merged data, too.
• To make life easiest: use your database’s
default processes and settings
o Appeals and Packages
o A/B splits
o Attributes
• Plan where all response fields will be
tracked — better future!

22. ResultsFriends of the Library
YTD Report as of December 31, 2013
Overview
Year Year @
February 13
Year @
July 9
Year @
Nov. 11
Year @
Dec. 31
Amount Budgeted
2012 $16,769 $35,894 $59,046 $90,447 $94,500
2013 $19,917 $38,140 $64,078 $102,007 $111,200
% Change 19% 6% 9% 13%
% of budget 18% 34% 58% 92%
Gift Distribution
Year Number of Gifts YTD Average Gift Size YTD
2012 866 $104.44
2013 859 $118.75
New Donors (includes all funds, appeals and first time pledges ; Staff Campaign & IAA
silent auction removed)
Year # new
donors YTD
Total given by
new donors
New Donors
of < $5,000
# of Mem/Tri
gifts
New gifts w/o
mem/tri
2012 124 $121,697 $50,197 45 ($7,218) $42,979
2013 229 $67,679.15 $40,841 101 ($6,932) $33,909
• Check in with your
results often
(don’t wait till November)
• Adapt
(When you need new
results, do something
different)
• Find a report form
that works for your
organization

23. Evaluating Effectiveness
• Review responses of same donors from one appeal
to next
o Comparative report, screened by appeal
• A/B results – random sample of same group, same
mailing, only one change
• Look at package responses
• Appeals analysis – comparing
multiple appeals

24. Thank you!
Find more information online at:
rosieblankenship.com/brownbag
Email us at:
bwarner@indyplfoundation.org
rblanken@spsmw.org