Direct Response

On Monday, Dane Grams, director of direct response and monthly giving at the Human Rights Campaign, led a Direct Marketing Fundraisers Association Brown Bag Luncheon on year-end appeals at HRC headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Sharing success is important, but make sure it is a shared success because of you and the donor. Otherwise you may only be talking to yourself as your donors move on to where they feel part of the solution.

Communications and development can, and should be, the soup and sandwich of fundraising.

You must make your donor a partner in your mission. The donor must understand that she is an integral part of your organization, not just a dollar sign. If you can find legitimate ways for your donors to participate in your mission, you will be rewarded with greater donor loyalty, better retention and higher levels of financial support.

With appreciation to Jerold Panas (FundRaising Success' 2013 Lifetime Achievement Award winner), who stimulated this article with a short piece he published several months ago comparing fundraising to white-water rafting, here are some tips from a hiker to energize your work as a fundraiser this fall.

Ah, I could talk about direct mail forever ... but I'll stop here! All this old dog asks is that all you skeptics out there take a few minutes to consider (or re-consider) direct mail — an old-fashioned fundraising tool that can breathe new life into your year-end fundraising.

What kind of direct-marketing trends made their mark on the MAXIs in the fundraising and nonprofit space this year?

There are reports that can make you feel better and other reports that can keep you up at night. We are a data-based industry, so we know that data can be looked at in a myriad of ways.

The ability to manage and measure response is what sets direct marketing apart from advertising. Make the most of that difference.

Today, in an effort to balance my karma and avoid creative hubris, I want to remind all of us on the creative side of the PDF that putting out a direct-mail package or online communication that gets results is a two-way street.