A part of direct marketing, direct mail is used by charities to contact either existing supporters or prospective ones. It can be used for fundraising, awareness-raising, branding or to communicate the charity’s work to existing supporters.
Direct mail includes any addressed mail sent by charities to individuals and can include ‘enclosures’ – material in addition to a letter, such as small branded gifts such as pens.
Direct mail is a long-standing and valuable fundraising technique but is highly controversial among some politicians, parts of the media and some members of the public, who feel it is wasteful and environmentally unsound.
Under new regulations charities will face increasing postal costs of nearly £18m as VAT will now be charged on bulk mailing.
The Fundraising Standards Board website will indicate which charities have not shared their complaints data in this year’s annual fundraising complaints survey.
Politicians have called for the accelerated abolition of the Edited Electoral Register by 2014-2015, but fundraisers are concerned it could leave them without a way to check the details of potentially valuable direct mail supporters.
Crisis: A tale of adaptation
Crisis led the industry when it launched its social investment product, Urban Investors. But, disappointed with the level of major donor interest, the charity has turned the ask into a direct mail regular giving campaign. Ed Tait explains how it works.
Charities whose supporters receive a lot of mail from other charities attribute this cross-over to their supporters choosing to be generous to multiple causes or featuring on cold lists of likely donors – not the swapping of donor data by charities.
Royal Mail figures released to civilsociety.co.uk show for the first time the extent to which some charity donors are being bombarded with mail by organisations keen to win or retain their support over the busy Christmas and New Year period.
Fundraising complaints are high - is there a problem?
Last year FRSB members reported 18,442 complaints from the public. What exactly does that mean, and what precisely are they complaining about? Alistair McLean unpicks the data.
The use of direct mail dropped by more than a quarter last year but the number of complaints rose by 86 per cent, according to the annual FRSB fundraising complaints results.
CAF Bank has moved to demonstrate the charity sector’s reliance on cheques by revealing that it received 1.7 million cheques worth £471m in the 2010/11 financial year.
As the Treasury Select Committee prepares to review the Payments Council proposal to phase out cheques by 2018, a survey by nfpSynergy and Fundraising has found that a significant proportion of the charity sector is extremely concerned at the impact this could have on their income.
Three months after launching its most ambitious campaign ever to reduce global infant mortality, Save the Children has begun the fundraising stage of the campaign, aiming to raise an additional £150m by 2015 for the cause.
Royal Mail is soon to launch a new direct mail product as part of a range of efforts to promote direct mail in the face of the postal company's declining profits.
Cancer Research UK has launched its first February cold direct mail campaign in years in an attempt to draw in new supporters and reactivate very lapsed ones.
Charities need to consider the cost of not cleaning their data following a campaign as it is often greater than that incurred by doing so, according to Macmillan Cancer Support.
Consumers have been given new control over the way marketers access their information and communicate with them in a trial of the first-ever personal data store.
The National Trust has launched a virtual gift catalogue, its first foray into this kind of scheme, in an effort to get members donating in the lead-up to Christmas.
The National Trust has launched a £1.8m appeal to save a stretch of North West Welsh coastline.
Facing two days of more devastating rainfall in flood-stricken Pakistan, Concern Worldwide and the British Red Cross have today launched appeals and released emergency funding for the relief effort.
The National Trust and Practical Action have both launched new recruitment campaigns to attract fresh and lapsed donors to their causes.
Jonathon Grapsas is preparing for next week's Institute of Fundraising National Convention, where fundraisers might be challenged about incentive-led direct marketing and - his old favourite - data.
Oxfam is launching a large direct mail campaign asking baby boomer supporters to leave a legacy in their wills.
Cancer Research UK will no longer share donor data with other charities and has pulled out of the donor data swapping service Reciprocate.
Remember me? Whizz Kidz finds (very) lapsed donors will still give
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When Whizz-Kidz planned its Christmas direct mail appeal last year it cast its net wide. Very wide. Donors who hadn’t given to the charity in ten years suddenly received packs in the post. Re-introducing your charity to long lost donors can be profitable, reports James Allport.
On again/off again: Merlin's integrated online-direct mail appeals
Merlin’s first attempt to integrate an online and off-line Christmas fundraising appeal didn’t quite reach target. But second time around, the online efforts paid off explains Danielle Atkinson.
Charities could be denied access to the edited electoral register, used to target and verify donors, according to the Institute of Fundraising.
Ever wondered how your friends across the pond, those lovely Canucks, fared as a result of the global financial crisis? Jonathan Grapsas shares some insights.
Canadian charities report a dramatic drop in direct mail income last year, as online and regular giving gather strength.
The evolution of market research has not necessarily seen the strongest research genes prevail, but the rise of online research presents a new opportunity for fundraisers interested in finding out more about those they market to, says Tod Norman
Stephen Pidgeon sought to defuse the row between the Institute of Fundraising and the face-to-face community over a comment he made on a YouTube video promoting an Institute direct marketing event, by issuing a public apology – of sorts – at the start of the day’s proceedings.
It has been quite a week for controversial viral videos. First the pop doyennes Lady Gaga and Beyonce get everyone from feminists to misogynists hot under the collar with the release of a racy, and some say retrograde, film clip featuring lesbian kisses and navel-level necklines.
