An impactful non-profit fundraising direct mail campaign can increase donations and greatly help your non-profit’s cause. Optimize your direct mail appeal letters by following the direct mail fundraising best practices
below.
1. Use Custom Envelopes
Over 90% of fundraising direct mail uses envelopes, according to a study by Who’s Mailing What!. An envelope with an attention-grabbing headline and visually appealing images can entice your target customer to open your mail piece. What’s more, the act of opening the envelope itself adds an element of suspense, so you can further capture the person’s attention.
2. Take Advantage of Data
To ensure that your non-profit fundraising direct mail campaign yields an optimized ROI, make data your friend. Segmentation can be used to tailor your message to specific groups of people. This will personalize the experience for donors – and therefore improve it. Further personalization can be accomplished with Variable Data Printing (VDP). VDP treats each donor as if you are individually writing to them by using their name and relevant information in the messaging. This helps increase response rate and donations towards your campaign.
3. Keep it Simple
While you’ll want to add information and statistics about your non-profit, you’ll want to avoid cluttering your fundraising direct mail piece with too much of that.
Too much information can overwhelm or bore the reader, and you’ll quickly lose their interest. Keep your messaging simple, direct, and conversational, leaving lots of white space and room for eye-catching imagery to grab the attention of potential donors.
4. Create an Emotional Message
You’ll want to back up your fundraising campaign with accurate facts and data, of course. However, it’s also important to use emotion as a driving force throughout your campaign. You can create emotion by showing how your non-profit fundraising campaign has helped other people or how the issue you are fighting has a negative impact when unaddressed. This can show how donors can personally and positively help others through their contributions and persuade them to help.
5. Create Materials for Donors to Act
Any effective direct mail fundraising campaign should make it easy for donors to act with little effort on their end. When creating materials for your fundraising campaign, choose materials that make it easy for donors to send their pledges or donations.
These can include perforated appeal letters, reply cards, reply envelopes.
6. Tell a Story
Emotion can also be powerfully invoked through a story. You can develop an emotional connection with the reader by telling a personal story from the point of view of someone who benefited from your company’s fundraising efforts. Telling a story about a challenge and how donor efforts have helped others overcome a challenge personally ties a potential donor to the cause because an interesting story not only engages a reader, but it humanizes your non-profit company.
Get Started on Your Non-Profit Mailings Campaign Today
Looking to create an impactful non-profit direct mail piece? United GMG provides fundraiser card printing and other donation mailer services near Chicago. Contact us today to get started!
