Don Akchin

T.S. Elliott said April was the cruellest month, and this is especially true for trees. April seems to be launch month for a flotilla of surveys, reports and data dumps on the state of all things online. This year we had the 2012 Convio Online Marketing Nonprofit Benchmark Index(TM) Study, the 2012 Nonprofit Social Network Benchmark Report,  the Sage Nonprofit Solutions Email Marketing Report, and possibly some also-rans.  Feel free to read them. Or just away these highlights: If your nonprofit does not have a Facebook page, you qualify as a Conscientious Objector; 93% of nonprofits are on Facebook, with an average community size of 8,317 fans. 73% of nonprofits staff their social networking with the equivalent of one  half-time employee. 43% have a social networking budget of zero ($00.00). Online fundraising is growing at a healthy clip. The median growth rate was 15.8%, versus 20% in 2010 – a

Well-known copywriter and author Tom Ahern delightfully distills the essence of neuroscience, as it applies to motivating people to act (and give). Much of the action takes place in the “reptile brain,” a vestige from the early days of evolution, which constantly notes what’s new in the environment and sizes it up with two questions – Will it kill me? Can I eat it? Ahern’s bottom line is that the latest brain science confirms what direct mail marketers have known for years: people respond to emotional triggers, not reason.

In the early 1990s, a direct mail company in Seattle discovered, through relentless testing, a formula that turned routine newsletters to donors into dependable fundraising machines. The writing was donor-centered, the headlines powerful, the articles short – and five more key points.  Copywriter and blogger Jeff Brooks, a member of that Seattle firm at the time, recites the entire formula, then adds a few things he’s learned in the years since then. Could it work for you? Yes, it absolutely could.  And I will be happy to show you how.  

Want to get free advice from highly paid experts? Last month I interviewed three consultants who advise nonprofits on fundraising and marketing. The interviews appeared on the Nonprofit Marketing 360 blog. Here are links, along with a taste of each interview:   Toby Bloomberg writes the Diva Marketing Blog and hosts Blog Talk Radio. She talks about how social media can help nonprofits perfect “corner grocery store” relationships with donors and constituents.   Michael Stein, a senior executive at Donordigital, co-wrote a groundbreaking book about online fundraising. He discusses the intersection of direct mail and social media.  “People can organize revolutions on Facebook and Twitter, so why not fundraising?”   Mike Kujawski, who blogs at Public Sector Marketing 2.0, talks about building engagement strategies within the risk-averse cultures of government and nonprofit organizations.  “By the end of 2012, over 50% of world Internet access is going to occur via mobile device. Yet today, less than

“Multi-channel marketing” is the latest buzzword to proliferate and pollute all the multiple channels of communication. (See item below for a good example of why.) Convio has published a survey (produced by Edge Research, of Washington and Baltimore) that looks at how well nonprofits are doing and at what seem to be the  success factors. Blogger Joanne Fritz offers a succinct summary of the findings. One essential element for multi-channel success, the survey suggests, is the technology to synchronize online and direct mail databases. To get you started, blogger John Haydon has six good suggestions for integrating your email list with social media.

Talk about your multi-channel marketing.  Check out this case study: a health nonprofit supplements its end-of-year direct mail appeal with a series of four targeted emails, with outstanding results.

Target Analytics (a Blackbaud company) released its 2011 donorCentrics Internet and Multichannel Giving Benchmarking Report on May 31st. Using data from 28 national nonprofits and more than 15 million donors, the report made these findings: Most gifts are received through direct mail. Increasingly, new donors are making their first gift online – and subsequent gifts through other channels (usually direct mail). New donors acquired online are significantly younger and tend to have higher household incomes than donors acquired by direct mail. Online donors tend to give much larger gifts than donors acquired by mail. Although only 7.6% of revenue is given online, 69% of donors of all ages prefer electronic over print communications from nonprofits. So what to make of these facts? There are at least two explanations. 1.  Online may be getting better at acquiring donors, but it doesn’t work well for retention, where direct mail excels. 2. Online

“Your degree from [Shall Remain Nameless] has helped you get ahead in life,” said the direct mail fundraising piece. Only it hasn’t.  Because I never got a degree from Shall Remain Nameless. I think I attended a couple of seminars there, and that put me on the mailing list. But shouldn’t the database at Shall Remain Nameless be able to distinguish the alumni from the occasional visitors? I think so, and if this happens again it shall not remain nameless a second time. Then I got the email blast from one of my favorite organizations, one that receives a regular, generous monthly transfusion from my credit card to its bottom line. Headline: “When Will You Support [us]?”  First line: “You’ve been listening to [us] for a while now but have not made a membership contribution.”   Uh-oh. But here lies an advantage of email marketing over direct mail. Not even three hours later,

A recent scientific study confirms that direct mail appeals have stronger emotional appeal than digital messages, but blogger Jeff Brooks suggests four ways to even up the score.

How can you keep your skillfully crafted holiday appeal letter from going directly to trash (Do not pass GO, Do not collect $200) before the envelope even gets opened? Consultant Rick Schwartz offers a half dozen creative approaches to the envelope that can help your appeal get over the first bar.

The beauty of direct marketing is that you can learn precisely what works, and how well. A free e-book from an interactive agency offers helpful guidance on ways to test your email campaigns.

The CEO of a company that tracks advertising sales predicts spending on direct mail will drop 38 percent in five years. Not surprisingly, a number of commenters take issue with that view. Photo Credit: Sfxeric

Nonprofit consultant Kivi Leroux Miller has a creative suggestion for increasing your communications to your audiences: instead of two newsletters a year, why not spend the same money on six postcards?

M + R Strategic Services ran a test during the 2008 end-of-year fundraising season, with four nonprofits (Easter Seals, Human Rights Campaign, Save Darfur Coalition and The Wilderness Society) offering a premium to prospective donors. The effects were profound: response rates up 95%, average gift up 37%, and average net gift, after subtracting the cost of the premiums, up 51% per email recipient.Photo: M Lane

What can nonprofits learn from the astounding fund-raising achievements of the Obama campaign? Blogger Joanne Fritz, summing up advice from an architect of the campaign, boils it down to: Short, personalized emails calling for one concrete action. Tell the supporter what that action will achieve. Reward supporters who act with public praise.

First, you have to get people to open your e-mail. That’s why subject lines are key. EmailTrainer.com offers great suggestions for writing great subject lines.

First, you have to get people to open your e-mail. That’s why subject lines are key. EmailTrainer.com offers great suggestions for writing great subject lines.

First, you have to get people to open your e-mail. That’s why subject lines are key. EmailTrainer.com offers great suggestions for writing great subject lines.

A report from the Direct Marketing Association finds that business-to-business and businesss-to-consumer marketers are using “Web 2.0” tools such as blogs, social networks and wikis along with more traditional direct marketing, with most allocating about 25% of their budgets to these social media.

As is typical in a recession, the volume of direct mail is expected to decline this year. Blogger Jeff Brooks suggests that’s a great opportunity for nonprofit fundraisers.

A report from the Direct Marketing Association finds that business-to-business and businesss-to-consumer marketers are using “Web 2.0” tools such as blogs, social networks and wikis along with more traditional direct marketing, with most allocating about 25% of their budgets to these social media.

As is typical in a recession, the volume of direct mail is expected to decline this year. Blogger Jeff Brooks suggests that’s a great opportunity for nonprofit fundraisers.

A report from the Direct Marketing Association finds that business-to-business and businesss-to-consumer marketers are using “Web 2.0” tools such as blogs, social networks and wikis along with more traditional direct marketing, with most allocating about 25% of their budgets to these social media.

As is typical in a recession, the volume of direct mail is expected to decline this year. Blogger Jeff Brooks suggests that’s a great opportunity for nonprofit fundraisers.

An article in the Chronicle of Philanthropy reported that direct mail fundraising campaigns by the nation’s largest nonprofits are raising less money, losing more donors, and attracting few new supporters. One reason cited: people who grew up after World War II are less responsive to direct mail than their elders. Marc Sirkin at NP Marketing Blog offers some pungent commentary: Folks, the writing is on the wall and has been for a few years. How many more postage increases can you handle? How much more tolerance for the price of paper can you swallow? What happens when donors start asking you to stop killing trees because of how much paper you are using? Jeff Brooks at DonorPower Blog takes the contrarian position: Let’s get real: Direct Mail is not dead! It’s not even terribly sick. Both make good points, however, about the dangers of depending exclusively on direct mail for