Direct Marketing Association

The Direct Marketing Association’s Email Experience Council and Epsilon today released the Q4 2010 North America Email Trends and Benchmarks Results, which show an increase in conversion rates of 16.1 percent over Q4 2009.  The 2.9 percent conversion rate is the strongest over a two-year period.

The DMA Nonprofit Federation is very pleased to announce the selection of Carol Portale as its 2011 Max Hart Nonprofit Achievement Award recipient.

Portale, senior vice president of CRM and direct response for March of Dimes, will be honored for her achievements at the 2011 Washington Nonprofit Conference gala awards luncheon Feb. 18.

Industry news this week includes DMA Innovation Award Winners, an enhanced faith-based masterfile and new datacards, and new data apps.

The DMA Nonprofit Federation is now seeking nomination submissions for the 2011 Max Hart Nonprofit Achievement Award. 

Continuiing our coverage of the DMA: 2010 Conference and Exhibition in San Francisco this week, here are some stories filed by editors of FundRaising Success' sister publications (Target Marketing, Retail Online Integration, eM+C and Direct Marketing IQ), who are on the scene.

Editors from FundRaising Success' sister publications (Target Marketing, Retail Online Integration, eM+C and Direct Marketing IQ) are in San Francisco this week, taking in the sights and sounds of the biggest direct-marketing event of the year —  the DMA: 2010 Conference and Exhibition. And they're diligently filing wrap-ups of some of the best sessions.

The Direct Marketing Educational Foundation (DMEF) today announced the election of new officers and 11 new members to its Board of Trustees for 2010-2011. The terms commenced earlier today at DMEF’s Annual Meeting, which was held at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco, California.

The DMEF Board of Trustees elected Richard Hochhauser, former president and chief executive officer, Harte-Hanks, Inc., as chairman. A marketing veteran, Hochhauser retired from Harte-Hanks in 2008, after 33 years of service.

Battles between charities and the watchdog groups that help donors decide where to give escalated last week when a major trade association released drafts of two reports by scholars who say the watchdogs may do more harm than good.

The studies, paid for and released by the Direct Marketing Association’s Nonprofit Federation at a meeting here, charge that the watchdog groups use evaluation systems that are confusing and simplistic.

Household income and education levels are usually the key elements fund raisers use to figure out who is most likely to give, but it turns out something else is more important: whether a potential donor’s parents were involved in charitable causes.

The DMA Nonprofit Federation 2010 New York Nonprofit Conference is in full swing as I write this. Enterprising social entrepreneur and innovations expert Dan Pallotta kicked things off this morning with a high-powered opening keynote, and now sessions are in full swing.