Public Relations Crisis Looming for Nonprofits Relying on Direct Mail
A new survey from the Target Analysis Group has found that nonprofit organizations using direct-mail appeals for their fundraising efforts are not raising as much as they have in the past. They're actually losing more donors and attracting fewer new donors.
With this fundraising and public relations crisis looming, organizations need to invest more time and resources into developing relationships with their donors rather than relying on cold marketing-type solicitations.
Any suggestions on what local nonprofits can do to cultivate relationships with donors who only give $20 each year?
With this fundraising and public relations crisis looming, organizations need to invest more time and resources into developing relationships with their donors rather than relying on cold marketing-type solicitations.
Any suggestions on what local nonprofits can do to cultivate relationships with donors who only give $20 each year?
posted by Richard @ 5:11 PM
1 Comments:
At 10:13 AM, January 14, 2008,
Jon Weiner said…
I have worked at a "Marketing Services" firm for a couple of years now, and although we do mostly public relations work with our clients, I have had some limited exposure to a few direct mail campaigns and I must say that I think they are generally a waste of time and resources.
I understand that they are relatively cost effective, particularly for non-profits when a good, current mailing list exists of potential and past donors, but I am not surprised to hear that they are increasingly ineffective.
Appeals made through both controlled and uncontrolled media would probably be far more effective, simply from a credibility standpoint. There are a lot of believers in direct mail, but if more uncontrolled media attention was paid to the cause of a particular non-profit organization, that can go a long way to building the groundwork for a broader public knowledge base about an organization's primary issue and can also prime potential donors to make a contribution.
If you care about a cause, even a little bit, and you see a story or a spokesman advocating that cause's name or words in the print of a news article or a story, it is going to make an impression.
When somebody gets a direct mail solicitation, even if it is for a cause they care about, I have my doubts as its effectiveness on the average recipient, simply because the nature of direct mail often offers very little context as to why this organization's message is important and warrants continued support.
However, if you get a good op-ed or another story carrying a few good key messages printed in the paper or covered on the 6:00 news, it is not only more credible and more likely to leave a lasting impression on informed and unimformed audiences, but it can open the door to new fundraising oportunities down the road.
If local media start talking about a non-profit's core issue, then fundraising efforts are definitely going to be more effective.
To cultivate those relationships with the $20 donor, if I was a non-profit, I would spend more time and resources on getting credible outside sources to talk about my issue than on designing, sending and hoping for a hit from a direct mail recipient.
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