The 3 Senses of Outer Envelopes

As you are reading this article, the first Fundraising Success Engage Conference is taking place in Philadelphia. At the pre-conference session yesterday, I was with a few dozen of your colleagues, reviewing direct-mail packages.

It was exciting to be part of a session that focused on direct mail since that has become the forgotten stepchild at most fundraising conferences. Focusing on electronic fundraising, crowd-fundraising and one-on-one fundraising apparently seems far more saleable. Yet direct mail remains an essential part of fundraising. Many, many dollars are raised for nonprofits every year through direct mail, and the arrival of the letter has even been shown to prompt online giving. So doing direct mail better can only enhance the bottom line.