Most year-end appeal letters that land in December were printed in October. That is the whole secret, and it is the one nonprofits most often learn a year too late.
Here is the math, worked backward. Gifts cluster in the last five weeks of the year, from GivingTuesday on December 1 through December 31. For your appeal to work those weeks, it needs to be in homes at the end of November. A typical mailing takes about two weeks from order to delivery in homes, and delivery dates are never guaranteed, so the safe order date sits in early November, and the comfortable one sits in October, before the holiday print queues fill.
What to have in the mail plan.
The appeal letter. The workhorse. A letter, a reply device, an envelope. If your donor list is your own, we mail from it. If you want to reach new households near you, we can provide the list too, so one order covers both.
The GivingTuesday piece. December 1 is the loudest online giving day of the year, and every nonprofit’s email lands in the same crowded inbox that morning. A printed piece that arrived the week before is sitting on the kitchen counter when that day comes. Different channel, no crowd.
The thank-you letter. The most underused piece in fundraising. It asks for nothing. It closes the loop on this year’s gift, and it is the reason next year’s appeal gets opened. December gifts deserve a January thank-you, which means it goes in the plan now, not after the holidays.
About postage. Qualified nonprofits mail at USPS Marketing Mail nonprofit prices, which are lower than the regular commercial prices. If your organization has nonprofit mailing authorization, we apply it to your mailing. If you are not sure whether you have it, ask us.
The calendar, in one place.
October: order the appeal and the GivingTuesday piece. November: they print and mail, landing before Thanksgiving. December 1: GivingTuesday. Late December: gifts arrive. January: the thank-you letter lands.
One order can cover the list, the printing, the postage, and the mailing. You approve the piece and we take it from there. Call 602-433-9101, and a person who has walked a nonprofit through this calendar before will pick up.
