Donor Solicitation
Traditional Mail vs. Electronic
Cathedral Consulting Group, LLC divides fundraising revenue into three categories: Major
Donors, Institutions and Individual Donors. The first, Major Donor Cultivation, is all about the
personal connection, eye contact, trust between two individuals. Institutional money is received
by grant writing. This is a much more academic exercise, requiring research, writing, reporting,
etc. Individual donors, those too small to be considered major donors, are obtained most often
through traditional mail, online fundraising or annual appeals and annual events. The trick to
the individual donor approach is all about volume. Each individual may only give $25, but if you
can get 10,000 of them, you’re doing fine.
This Topic of the Month takes up the last of these three fundraising efforts – what some might
call, “fishing with a net”. This paper outlines the history of the volume approach, the evolution of
traditional mail and the best practices of a traditional mail campaign. Looking ahead to the
present, the transition to an electronic campaign is covered alongside a few best practices for
online fundraising communication.
History of Traditional Mail
“About 1000 B. C. an Egyptian landowner wrote on a piece of papyrus an advertisement for the
return of a runaway slave. This, so far as we can trace, is the first example of traditional
advertising.”1 Today, traditional mail represents 53% of total mail volume in the United States.
Businesses spent $45.2 billion last year on traditional mail marketing, a 3.1% increase from the
previous year.2
The chart below illustrates how this fundraising activity has trended over the last six decades.3
1
2
3
Effective Traditional Advertising, 1921. Courtesy of Duneroller Publishing, http://www.traditional-mail.org/history.htm.
http://www.delivermagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/D38-18a.jpg
www.malwarwick.com/learning-resources/articles/a-new-traditionalion-for.html
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It goes without saying that inflation and competition have played a large role in the increased
costs. There is, however, something to be said for the drastic increase in donor acquisition
costs, as this metric has escalated at a faster pace than the associated costs. Although there
are many theories resonating through the sector as to why this has happened, the general
consensus is that most donors are no longer responding to ‘snail mail’ solicitation. This,
combined with the rise of cheaper and more consumer accessible electronic solicitation, has led
to the widespread notion that the traditional mail industry is dying, or at best, just supporting the
rise of electronic fundraising: 15% of those who received a catalogue and 12% that received a
letter or postcard made a purchase on the company’s website.4
Perhaps the demise of traditional mail is overstated. Certainly the amount of solicitations that
continue to arrive in our mailbox says there still must be a market for it. Indeed, Cathedral
believes that those organizations that continue to find success with traditional mail solicitation
should stick with it, though always watching the numbers to stay ahead of any diminishing
returns. For those that are not currently engaging in traditional mail or who are not finding
success, we would urge looking to electronic fundraising as a more effective and forwardlooking donor acquisition tool.
Best Practices of Traditional Mail
For those who are investing in traditional mail fundraising practices, we present this brief
refresher course on best practices of traditional mail solicitation:
1. Use a pre-paid Business Reply Envelope (BRE) or Return Address Envelope
(RAE).5 The usage of BRE versus RAE should be tested by each organization. Typically,
the BRE is more effective for higher dollar donors and for donor acquisition; however,
RAE is more efficient in donor renewal.
2. Suggest a specific giving amount. Trends show that individuals are more likely to
respond to a fundraising mailing when a specific giving amount is suggested. Recipient
response increases when that amount is attributed to achieving the mission. For
example, “A $5.00 donation will provide school supplies to an African child in need. A
$25 donation will provide school supplies and school tuition for one academic year.”
3. Knowing when “urgent” or “emergency” language is appropriate to use and use it
sparingly. The fable of “a boy who cries wolf” certainly applies here. If every mailing
received says the organization will perish without a donation received, the donor will not
be able to distinguish when it is actually an urgent appeal. Also, if an organization or
mission is always in danger, it will seem as if the organization is not using its funds
responsibly or that a small donation will not make a difference in the overwhelming
amount of need.
4. Follow up with additional mailings. The frequency of mailings and follow up mailings
are often topics of debate. On the one hand an organization does not want to ‘fatigue’
its donor base and send mailings so often that they become part of the everyday mail
and are ignored. At the same, an organization will not receive if it does not ask. Experts
find that it is generally favorable to mail out follow-up letters two to four weeks after a
regular appeal. Targeting the higher-dollar donors who have not responded and sending
a personalized follow-up letter tends to be a successful approach.
4
Ibid.
“Email Fundraising for Nonprofit Organizations: A Direct Marketing Powerhouse”
http://www.oklahomandirect.com/Websites/oklahomandirect/Images/Email-marketing-fundraisers.pdf
5
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5. Try to upgrade donors by increasing individually tiered giving suggestions. For
example, Mr. and Mrs. Smith generally write one $25 check/month to an organization.
When that organization does its traditional appeal, the lowest tiered suggestion for Mr.
and Mrs. Smith will be $25, providing them an opportunity to give $50 or even $100. If
Mr. and Mrs. Smith select $50, the next solicitation will have $50 as the lowest
suggested tiered giving amount.
This generally requires a sophisticated donor relationship management system. It is
advised that organizations not attempt to upgrade the “ask” of the entire donor base
without carefully testing it with a few key donors. Most organizations that engage in
upgrade this practice typically find a higher average gift at the expenses of a lower
response rate. In addition, one danger to this practice is that the example Mr. and Mrs.
Smith may not want to donate $50 and stick to their usual $25 donation, but the form
does not provide this option. As a result, they do not donate at all.
Electronic Solicitation
Until the 1950s, fundraising by nonprofit organizations was mostly focused on major donor
cultivation. The traditional mail tactic of the 1950s to 1980s changed this donor-centric approach
to a focus on the ability to reach the masses. While the average gift declined, it was more than
offset by an increase in the number of donors/donations. This method proved to be an
extremely successful and the field became dominated by a marketing mind-set that focused on
volume. The development of electronic fundraising has allowed organizations to serve masses
why maintaining a donor-centered approach.
Best Practices of Direct Electronic Solicitation
When done right, online fundraising can be one of the most cost effective methods that can be
used for a nonprofit. In addition to the best practices of traditional mailings, there are four main
points to keep in mind with direct electronic solicitation:
1. Define the target audience. The targeted audience for an electronic fundraising effort
should be similar to that of a traditional mail solicitation. The more information an
organization has on its donors the more relevant the email message can be. It is
important for an organization to begin compiling and sorting email addresses and key
information points of its donor base in order to target the most traditional audience
recipients. This information can be gathered by regularly asking supporters to provide
information about themselves.
2. Timing is everything. The timing of when the email is sent can be a crucial component
of the methodology. The communication, whether email or newsletter, should be sent
while the recipient is sitting at his/her computer. There is a distinctively lower open rate
for those messages received during ‘off-peak’ hours. It is generally accepted that the
weekends are not good days to send emails, as well as Mondays and Fridays, as these
days tend to be the busiest and therefore the messages do not get the proper attention
needed. Therefore, mid-week, day-time email messages have received favorable open
rates and generate better responses.
3. Monitor the frequency of communication. Donor fatigue is a always a concern and it
is important to know when enough is enough. Each organization should determine its
own respective ‘limit’. A good way to know whether an organization is sending too many
email messages or not enough is by listening to their audience through limited market
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research. Critical to the success of electronic fundraising is to ensure email promotions
are not offensive, but still done frequently enough to be effective.
4. The mission/incentive must be clear among all strategies. Particularly for those
organizations engaging in both traditional mail and electronic fundraising, the message
should be the same across all mediums. Most importantly, the organization’s mission
should be consistent, as any inconsistencies will turn donors away.
5. Be creative! Getting donors attention is something that all fundraisers struggle with. It is
important for organizations to creatively address their need. Note that the fundraising,
and even the entire electronic platform of an organization, is the medium to test new
ideas.
Note that this section addresses direct electronic solicitation and does not speak to all forms of
less-aggressive online fundraising strategies available to an organization, including websites
banner advertisements, blogs, pay-per-click, etc. Such information can be found in the
resources section of Cathedral’s website: www.cathedralconsulting.com.
Any fundraising method, whether traditional mailing or electronic, can be a highly profitable
fundraising method if implemented correctly. More importantly, these fundraising methods
should not be the only strategy utilized by the organization, but rather should be complementary
instruments in garnering donations through relationship cultivation.
Articles for Further Reading
1. “Email Fundraising for Nonprofit Organizations: A Traditional Marketing Powerhouse”
http://www.oklahomantraditional.com/Websites/oklahomantraditional/Images/Emailmarketing-fundraisers.pdf
2. “Adventures in Email Fundraising” http://www.idealware.org/articles/adventures-emailfundraising
3. “Online Fundraising: A Startup Guide”
http://nonprofit.about.com/od/onlinefundraising/tp/onlinefundraisinghub.htm
4. Effects of Online Service Providers for Nonprofits on Fundraising Markets: An Economic
Analysis http://www.igi-global.com/viewtitlesample.aspx?id=37596
Peter Giersch is COO of Cathedral Consulting Group, LLC and a Managing Director in the
Midwest Office. Michelle Fitzgerald is a former Senior Associate in the New York office. Susan
Russell is a former Intern Associate in the New Jersey office.
For more information, please visit Cathedral Consulting Group LLC online at
www.cathedralconsulting.com or contact us at info@cathedralconsulting.com.
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