2012 DMFA Midlevel Renewal Package of the Year: ASPCA Memo Mailing

[Editor's note: In September, the Direct Marketing Fundraisers Association (DMFA) held its annual Package of the Year Awards luncheon to honor the winning packages. Through the end of the year, FundRaising Success will highlight some of the winners here in Today in Fundraising.]

There's no better way to keep donors in the fold than by making them feel like a real, integral part of your organization. That's exactly the approach the ASPCA takes with its midlevel renewal package, and in 2012, the package was such a hit that it took home the DMFA's Midlevel Renewal Package of the Year award.

The ASPCA defines a midlevel donor as anyone who donates $500 a year, either as a one-time gift or the cumulative yearly giving sum. For those donors, the organization that's mission is to provide effective means for the prevention of cruelty to animals throughout the U.S. strives to send cost-efficient, mass personalization content. So with its renewal appeal, it sends an "insider" memo mailing.

The outer envelope is a manila-type office envelope, the kind you'd see for interoffice correspondence. In fact, the header on the envelope reads: "INTER-DEPARTMENTAL MAIL." Then it has names and type such as "URGENT" and "CONFIDENTIAL" crossed out, like it's made its way through the office. On the reverse is the ASPCA logo and information, along with the teaser, "Together we CAN save countless animals' lives. See enclosed for details," in faux handwriting.

"The hard thing, obviously, is to get the package opened," says Andrea O'Brien, director of midlevel giving at ASPCA. "This looks like a manila folder, interoffice mail, which is intriguing."

Inside the package, the interoffice memo theme continues. In fact, there are two letters, one in handwriting font signed by O'Brien, who also manages the ASPCA's midlevel giving program, the Founder's Society, thanking donors and describing the urgent need, while the other is an actual replica memo, sent to President and CEO Edwin Sayres from Andy Monterose, the senior director of the ASPCA Transport Program.