Are You Sending Too Much Mail?

Too often, giving to charity is like this: You get a request. You make a gift. You get a receipt (if you're lucky). You get another request. It's like riding a merry-go-round, but on the little couch. The scenery never changes, never progresses or improves; you just keep throwing money at the problem. The fact that donors give at all under such a system is testament to their patience and good will.

If you are one of the few organizations that actually reports back to the donors on the impact they're having, you have at least one foot outside the junk-mail ring.

Reporting back — usually in a donor-centered newsletter — changes the donor experience from a frustrating circle to a story that makes sense: She gives. She finds out her gift made a difference. She gives again to make even more difference. Junk mail? No way! This is a rewarding relationship.

That's how you tackle the too-much-mail problem. Forget the number of mailings you should or shouldn't send. The problem isn't too much mail. It's too little relevance. Fix the real problem. FS

Jeff Brooks is creative director at TrueSense Marketing and author of the Future Fundraising Now blog. Reach him at jeff.brooks@truesense.com.