You really should be mailing and emailing your donors more often. Why? Because…

Your donors want to hear from you. They want to know what your nonprofit is doing. They want to know when their help is needed. They want to donate. And they expect to donate because they understand how nonprofits operate. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t be on your donor rolls in the first place.

So, of course they expect to get your fundraising appeals. Still, what about the dreaded too-much-mail complaint?

Simple. You can respond to it by respecting donors’ individual preferences. And offering them your sustainer program as an option for receiving less mail.

Here’s the point: It does your nonprofit no good to restrict the appeals you send and hide from your donors. Your fundraising isn’t an intrusion in your donors’ lives, as some nonprofits seem to believe. Your fundraising is how you have a relationship with your donors. In fact, for most of your donors, your fundraising is all they’ll ever see of your nonprofit. Sure, some donors go to events, and some take the tour. But for most of your donors, your fundraising IS your nonprofit.

And it’s pretty hard to have a strong relationship with your donors – let alone build your nonprofit’s brand — if they only hear from you once or twice a year.

Then again, it’s not just about mailing more. It’s about mailing smarter too. That means:

Asking your donors how often they want to hear from you and through what media, and honoring their preferences.

Mailing less to lower-dollar donors.

Mailing more to higher-dollar donors and using appeals with specialized messaging and production values.

Letting lower-dollar lapsed donors go while reactivating higher-dollar lapsed donors.

Adding extra appeals during high-response times like Christmas, Thanksgiving, and year end.

And adding a donor-centric newsletter with success stories about your donor’s support at work.

What it comes down to is this: You have to get your message in front of your donors – repeatedly. Otherwise, they’re likely to forget all about you. That’s a much greater risk than an occasional complaint about too much mail or email. You can see more here: https://tinyurl.com/yr7mwacw