GivingTuesday 2026 is December 1. For nonprofit staff preparing a mailed appeal, the piece can have one clear purpose: explain what support is being requested and make the way to respond easy to find.
Your organization chooses the campaign purpose, message and intended recipients. The printing and mailing plan should support those choices.
Give the appeal one clear job
Keep the appeal focused on one approved purpose rather than trying to fit every announcement into the same piece. Explain the request in plain language, using project details and wording your organization has approved.
A letter can introduce the cause and explain the request. A postcard can carry a shorter message. The format should fit the amount of information and the response method.
For format-specific preparation, see our GivingTuesday postcard guide, appeal-letter guide and reply-card and return-envelope guide.
Start with the intended recipients
For an appeal to existing donors or supporters, begin with the recipient list your organization has approved for that campaign. Confirm the correct list version and the names, addresses and personalized fields needed for the piece.
Reaching a new audience is a separate planning choice. Define that audience and its message before deciding how it fits the project; do not assume the same recipient selection or mailing preparation applies to both.
Let supporters choose how to respond
Start with your supporters’ recorded communication preferences when choosing how to reach them. Age-group research can help you ask useful questions about your audience, while leaving room for individual choices.
In a 2023 Bank of America and Indiana University study, 36% of older donors preferred physical-mail contact, compared with 20% of younger donors. The study defined the groups as born before 1981 and born in 1981 or later. Its overall survey included 1,626 qualified adults from affluent U.S. households. These percentages describe reported contact preferences; they are not donation response rates.
For your GivingTuesday appeal, offer response methods your organization supports and keep them connected to the same approved campaign. A printed web address and a checked QR code can give a mail recipient an online response option.
When reviewing results, record where a gift was completed separately from any evidence about what prompted it. Count mailed pieces, responses and confirmed gifts separately so those measures keep their meaning.
Make the response path clear
Use a response method your organization has approved and can manage. That may be its own donation webpage, a checked QR code pointing to that page, or an approved reply device with clear return instructions.
Keep the destination and wording consistent with your campaign materials. Check the website address or QR code from the final artwork before approving it. Your organization controls the donation destination and the handling of responses.
Agree a job-specific mailing plan
Share the GivingTuesday date, intended arrival period, quantity and artwork status when discussing the job. Proof approval, production, addressing, postage preparation and delivery to USPS all need to fit the actual project.
Confirm the available schedule for the actual mailing. For USPS Marketing Mail, delivery dates are not guaranteed. The intended arrival period is a planning goal, not a promise of arrival on a particular day.
The schedule should also allow your organization to review the message, recipient data and proof before production.
Record the milestones and approvals
Use this worksheet to identify what must be ready before you agree a schedule. Add a confirmed date only when the responsible person has agreed it, and keep proposed dates visibly provisional. If a decision changes, ask which later milestones need to move.
| Milestone | Record the decision and responsible person |
|---|---|
| Campaign date and arrival goal | Record GivingTuesday December 1, 2026 separately from your requested arrival period. Neither is a confirmed production cutoff. |
| Content and response readiness | Name the approver for the request, actual giving or reply destination and any dated offer. Record unresolved wording or destination decisions. |
| Recipient-file readiness | Identify the current file edition, unresolved records, version assignments and the person who approves them. |
| Artwork and proofs | Identify the artwork editions, proof reviewer, correction owner and any open size, fold, envelope or assembly question. |
| Production and mailing preparation | Ask the actual provider to confirm quantity, format, materials, assembly and the planned preparation steps for this job. |
| USPS handoff and arrival | Record the agreed USPS handoff separately from the intended arrival goal. Confirm the selected service; do not turn the goal into a promised delivery date. |
The worksheet is a conversation record, not a universal order-by calendar. Ask the team about the actual job instead of borrowing a lead time from another campaign.
Approve the message and personalization together
Review the final appeal wording and response path alongside the approved recipient data. If the piece uses names or other variable text, review a proof showing how that information appears.
Keep the approved artwork and correct recipient-file version identified together. A proof based on an earlier list or an outdated campaign message needs review before it is used for the new mailing.
Your organization approves its campaign details and artwork. Need help with the design? Just ask.
What to bring to the printing and mailing conversation
Bring one identified package of job information to the discussion so the quote, proofs and schedule refer to the same mailing:
- Approved organization name and appeal purpose, with a named content approver.
- The proposed postcard, letter and reply-component list, with finished size, page count and folds where selected.
- The number of mailed packages, with extra pieces or handout quantities listed separately.
- The current artwork edition and the provider's actual requested file and template instructions.
- The approved recipient-file edition, individual/household/organization recipient rule, required fields, version assignments and a decision for missing values.
- The approved giving or reply destination and its owner, with final-artwork QR and printed-address checks where used.
- The intended dates, current readiness gaps and the people responsible for content, data and proof approval.
Describe the needed recipient fields in the initial inquiry rather than pasting donor records into it. Ask the actual provider for the file-transfer and artwork instructions for your job, including any resolution, bleed, font, mailing-area or window-alignment requirements. This checklist does not establish a universal accepted file type or production specification.
Talk through your GivingTuesday mailing
Call 602-433-9101 with your campaign purpose, intended recipient quantity and artwork status.
For a full-service mailing, Accurate Mailing Service coordinates printing, addressing, postage preparation and delivery to USPS within the agreed quote. The donation page and the response process remain under your organization’s control.
