Direct Marketing Q&A
1. What is direct mail?
Direct mail is the form of direct marketing most frequently used by nonprofit organizations.
Direct mail is the most cost-effective way to build a large base of individual support as well as a reliable and predictable long-term source of (mostly) unrestricted income.
It has two primary components: Acquisition and Renewal.
Acquisition is expensive, but essential for acquiring new donors. Once you have donors, a good renewal program is crucial to increase the amount and frequency of donations.
Renewals and Special Appeals engage the donor in the organization's mission, recover the cost of the acquisition and generate net income.
Direct mail also is proven to lead to planned and major gifts. In fact, as much as 80% of bequests come from direct mail donors.