Fundraising

Straight talk about major, mid-level and legacy gift fundraising to help you be a better fundraiser

How to End Your Obsession With Direct Mail (and Why)

Love! Ahh…. love. Is there anything better than love? Love is great. But when it goes too far and becomes an obsession, there’s a problem…. Read More


The top 3 kinds of emails your donors want to receive from you

Marketing Sherpa frequently delivers fantastic research right to your inbox for free (if you sign up for it). Here you’ll find their latest findings on… Read More


DMAW, their MAXI Awards, and a big “fail” for planned giving

  At the 2013 Bridge Conference last week, you could walk through a wonderful “museum” of award-winning direct marketing fundraising packages. They were neatly on… Read More


Are mobile devices impacting your planned giving marketing plans?

Phyllis Freedman’s recent blog post pointed out that many nonprofit’s websites do not work on mobile devices.  I knew she was right.  But so what? … Read More


Postcards get one more breathe of life for direct mail marketing

Why not create some postcards in bulk to save money and keep your marketing schedule consistent and on-track all year long? While postcards are a… Read More


Direct mail still has a place in marketing

Although direct mail requires printing and postage, I have to say that… if it’s done right… it’s still one of the most effective marketing media… Read More


Get more bang for your direct mail buck

Add relevance and a personalized URL Yes, I’m talking about personalization.  Direct mail works best when it is relevant. So we recommend you send targeted… Read More


For planned giving marketing…. the difference between suspects, prospects and qualified leads.

Sometimes we need to step back and evaluate our planned giving database objectively.  Here are three categories you might consider for your planned giving marketing… Read More


What is a QR code and how can you use one for marketing?

A QR code is a “quick response” code.  They are easy to create (there are dozens of free tools available online).  And they simply drive… Read More


How to leave a voicemail while cold-calling or making follow-up calls.

As most of you know, I still believe in cold-calling. That’s because it still works! Sure I’ve had people tell me it’s old-school. But I don’t… Read More


Direct mail drives online interactions?

According to research from Pitney Bowes, “60 percent of respondents believe that offline marketing is most likely to get them to visit the website of… Read More


Ebay mails one million postcards in multi-channel marketing effort.

Who says print is dead? I used to.  A lot. But I’m seeing more and more that print has morphed into a “complementary” part of… Read More


How to dramatically cut postage, printing and fulfillment costs while reducing your impact on the environment.

Regularly sending out lots of information to prospects, clients, or customers? How are you doing that?  Is it time consuming?  Are the packets messy?  Lots… Read More


The 80/20 rule!!!

I can’t tell you how many times I see people, sales people, marketers and companies forget about the 80/20 rule.  Could it be that they… Read More


Real handwriting generates 14% response rate. Wow!

How many times have you received direct mail with your name on it?  How many times has the letter had a signature at the bottom?… Read More


Increase sales more cost-efficiently- 3 steps to get your data cleaned up.

Everyone knows that marketing and sales is a numbers game.  But I bet your numbers are sloppy because your data is sloppy.   Don’t feel bad. … Read More


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