Cold Mailing

Sounds like the name for a training course - I'm sure we could arrange something :-)

Martin has covered some of the key points - if you're small, the key question is how to get yourself in front of prospective donors. You are far more persuasive than any leaflet will ever be, and you need to ask yourself how you can meet people most effectively.

Your existing supporters can be crucial here - ask them what sort of event would persuade them to come along and bring their friends (or a table, perhaps). Get some of them involved in the planning.

Use your Trustees, too! That is (at least in part) what they're there for!

Martin's event, in the context of his charity, may be very well priced at £7.50 - for most of us, a similar event would be much more expensive.

If you have friends in the business community, they might not take it seriously if tickets are less than £50!

The key phrase is "Donor get Donor" - what will turn your supporters into advocates, and enable you to get your message personally to a wider population.

Hope this helps.

Cheers

Gerry

There are other ways besides cold mailing.

Local groups, local churches, even stalls at fun days, fayres and club days.
Leaflets do work, just not particularly well.
I used to get a response in my business from just under 1% from leaflet dropping.
But costs can be saved by dropping yourselves - unless long driveways, an able-bodied person can do 150 leaflets an hour out.
10 people doing a couple of hours each is 3000 leaflets out.

Unrestricted income - there's contracts, some charitable trusts, plus donations.
If you sell a product too (we have both a tea room and a dining area giving us income) then great.

Even restricted income can be great if you can use it to cover your costs.

Oh, and don't forget that events can be used to create new supporters too.
We are planning a 5 course meal for 50 people at £7.50 a head - hoping to raise money directly from the event but also planning on getting a few people to sign up to regular giving (we have a total of 2 so far!)

Good luck.

Martin

I agree with most of what has been said earlier about small charities and cold mailings but as you say, you need to build your database. The mantra in cold mailing is that you should test before betting the shop on a big campaign. A modest test will give the confidence to roll it out or pull the plug, depending on the response. That said, I am not a fan of leaflet drops which tend to get consigned to the bin even quicker than cold mailings. If you are local you should play to that strength, try a mailing that is more targetted than a leaflet drop and test before spending the entire budget.

Hi Gerry

I also work for a small charity and am considering investing in a small localised direct mail campaign...having read you comments I am now very worried about pursuing this strategy. Although I am already very aware of the very low response rates to expect.

It is vital for us to build our database as it is decreasing year on year and we also need access to a lot more regular unrestricted income.

Can you suggest how small charities can build a database if they do not invest in direct mail and inserts?

I thank you for your advice in advance.

We are also a small national charity that is contemplating a direct mail campaign and have already thought that working with a fundraising/DM specialist consultant would be worth the investment. Can anyone recommend an individual or company preferably in the West Midlands area, please?

First, let me stress that I am not a DM specialist, and there may be some hereabouts who will give more detailed advice.

However, as I understand it, you have several mutual exclusivities here!

"Small Charity" and "Cold Mail" should never appear in the same sentence without a very powerful DO NOT between them! The returns on cold mail, even for well-established household names are paltry. Big charities consider the investment worthwhile because they can weigh the cost of the campaign against the lifetime value of the small number of donors they recruit.

Added to that, you are proposing a leaflet drop, which (again, as I understand it) is the second most inefficient way of reaching potential donors (the worst being newspaper insertions)

The impact of such a mailing on business premises would, I'd be prepared to wager, even more negligible.

If you have money to invest in fundraising, there would be much better ways for a small charity to do it. You mention your mailing to warm donors - what are you doing to develop that relationship?

If you have no ideas, why don't you spend some of the money on getting a consultant in for a day to brainstorm new ideas with you?

Cheers

Gerry

Gerry Beldon FInstF
Director, 26-01 CIC
www.26-01.com