These days my digital inbox is overpowered with vapid and annoying messages fired three times an hour mostly by various candidates and committees affiliated with the Democratic Party.  (If this is the way they treat us donors I wonder about their skill set when it comes to beating Trump?)

Between the spurts of political drivel and the incessant commercial pap that “we’re in this together” fortunately there is the occasional digital appeal from a few nonprofits that do know—and show — what they’re doing, for these I’m happy to respond.

What’s missing in my locked-down life is the mailbox at the end of my lane chock full of letters from my favorite causes.  Sure, there’s one or two a week, but mostly the mailbox is bare except for the interminable flow of insurance and banking flyers.

My mailbox – and I –are lonely and longing for word from charities and causes I care about.

Apparently, I’m not the only one noticing this. Twitter and blogland are aglow with the same question: where’re the nonprofit direct mailings?  Why, at a time like this, are so many nonprofits ignoring or neglecting the most productive channel for individual giving –direct mail?

A Tweet by the committed and curious fundraiser Denisa Casement was all it took to trigger today’s post. In it Denisa notes ‘Every Direct Mail campaign we’ve done since March (right thru to yesterday) has been getting Christmas level results.” [Emphasis added.] 

“So why is my mailbox so empty?  Denisa added in apparent astonishment.  And then provided an answer: “Because fearful management has cancelled existing DM campaigns instead of adding extra campaigns like our clients have.”

I agree with Denisa, and I also believe there ‘s a raft of additional and deeply worrying reasons beyond the innate caution or cowardice of management. I fear that too many organizations have little or no understanding of direct mail and therefore avoid it.  Instead they too easily default to digital, often in the mistaken belief that it’s “free” or inexpensive. Wrong.

Among my many post-pandemic “hopes” is that we not return to “normal.”  If “normal” reappears it will simply signify that we’ve failed to learn.  And if this sector needs some learning –especially smaller organizations – it’s around the importance and value of direct mail.

Coincidentally, the same day Denisa’s Tweet appeared, Mark Philips of Bluefrog Fundraising posted a piece on direct mail titled  Why Direct Mail Lies At The Very Heart of Great Fundraising for the Institute of Fundraising. It’s an excellent primer of the “why” direct mail is important. If you’re already a believer in direct mail it’ll reinforce your beliefs and you should share it with the heathen non-believers in your organization.

In a nutshell, here’s Mark’s take on direct mail’s importance –particularly now:

“There are many ways to fundraise: face to face, telephone, digital, broadcast, press and direct mail.

“But one, stands out.  Particularly at the moment when we sit at home, waiting for the Coronavirus pandemic to subside.

“It’s not as easy as he phone or face to face.  It’s not as cheap as digital.  It’s not repeated day after day like TV ads, but it’s the one approach that I trust to recruit and engage donors over the long-term.  It’s direct mail.”

For those genuinely curious why there’s such difficulty in getting nonprofits to invest in a properly run direct mail program where on average response ratesare on average 37 times higher than the average email marketing response rates you might want to check out these Agitator posts:

• Are Smaller Organizations Missing Out On The Direct Mail Advantage?  where we conducted a Survey of Agitator readers to determine why so many groups shy away from direct mail.  You’ll find the results reported in Missing Out:  Smaller Organizations and Direct Mail. I urge you to read it along with the quite valuable insights of readers found in the comments section of that post.
• Smaller organizations are not taking advantage of the power of postal mail.
• 20% of the respondents felt that most organizations are unaware of the difference in response rates between digital and postal mail. But…assuming the other 80% are more or less aware of the greater financial potential of postal mail, why is it that 33.3% of the respondents feel that “smaller organizations are making too little use of postal/direct mail”?

In priority order here are the reasons why smaller groups are not taking advantage of the power of postal mail.

1. “Too expensive”
2. “Management believes we can do it all online.”
3. “Too much hassle with the logistics of printing and mailing”
4. “Don’t have time”
5. “Don’t know enough about how to use direct mail.”

Looking for Even More Reasons?

If you’re looking for other reasons why your mailbox is anorexic there’s a gem of a post from Jeff Brooks  titled: How to deal with the enemy within during the crisis.  Here’s Jeff’s insight/rant –to which most of us can readily agree:

“The coronavirus pandemic has starkly uncovered one of the deepest and most destructive problems in the fundraising world: The destructive power of the amateur.

“Amateurs — often (but not always) in the form of opinionated board members — often have too much sway in fundraising decision-making. Their habit of making decisions based on nothing but hunch, opinion, and intuition has cost our sector billions in lost revenue over the years.

“They issue rulings like ….

• “Stop sending direct mail. Nobody reads it any more. Start fundraising on [fad social media site of the moment].”
• “Our donors are dying! Give up on old people — let’s go after millennial donors!”
• “Fundraising is too inefficient. Instead let’s just cultivate a great relationship with Oprah/Bill Gates/etc.”

… and a hundred other ill-advised, already-debunked fundraising ‘innovations.’

“The professionals know better. But the amateurs are making the decisions.”

Who’s making those kinds of decisions in your organization?

And, just as importantly, if you haven’t unleashed the power of direct mail, why not? If there’s someone in your outfit who’s saying direct mail won’t work, particularly in this pandemic,  just quote Denisa:  “Every Direct Mail campaign we’ve done since March (right thru to yesterday) has been getting Christmas level results.”

Roger