DMFA Acquisition Package of the Year: Center for Urban Community Services NYC Note Cards

Then the note card package was tested against a more mission-based, nonpremium package. The packages went out last November, with 33,074 note card mailers sent. Turns out, both mailers did well — with an average gift that was about the same for both — but as expected, the premium package had a higher response rate and was the clear winner.

The “Scenes of the City We Love” premium had a response rate of 1.17 percent, nearly doubling the nonpremium package, and brought in $9,963 with an average gift of $25.81. And most importantly, it helped triple the size of CUCS’s housefile while tying the creative to the mission.

Those results help the CUCS NYC Note Cards package win the Direct Marketing Fundraiser Association’s 2011 Acquisition Package of the Year.

“We’re really honored that a client like CUCS that has a really new, small acquisition program could be recognized by the peers in our industry. We’re very excited for them, and they’re deeply honored. It’s a confirmation that they’re on the right path in terms of growing their individual-giving program, so it was a great endorsement of that,” Sena says.

Now, the note card premium package is the control for CUCS. Of course, Tripi and CUCS will continue testing against it, trying out new artwork for the creative to see if they can top this mailer and continue to grow its file.