As non-profit organizations scuffle to manage flat or declining donor bases and net contributions, virtually all are scrutinizing new strategies and tactics to make their fundraising efforts more effective. It’s serious business; only by maximizing contributions can they serve their client communities. The numbers of contributors are declining and, compounding the problem, the amount of each contribution is frequently decreasing as well.

An uphill battle

Minnesota-based Courage Center is a non-profit rehabilitation and resource center that empowers people with disabilities to realize their full potential. Founded in 1928, the organization has thousands of donors but, like others, has seen troublesome regressions in fundraising responses since 2008. Still, it wasn’t until their current fiscal year that the organization found it a challenge even to stay flat with last year’s results.

Courage Center typically does direct mail appeals each quarter, usually about 50,000 pieces. But with responses declining, Courage Center Development Officer Cheryl Vander Linden developed a new strategy to reactivate former donors. “We knew it would be easier to get previous donors back into the fold rather than to go for new acquisitions,” she said. “So Karin Hill, our GLS account executive, and I worked at crafting the message and exploring new ways to get the audience’s attention—and to get them to respond.”

They settled on a simple envelope mailer containing a single-fold card. The message was focused and clear: “We’ve missed you!” “The message we’ve been sending,” she said “is to ask donors just to stay loyal, even if it means a smaller gift—every gift makes a difference.”

An innovative touch

Cheryl thought the message would be persuasive, but how to get recipients to open the envelope? They decided to try a new proprietary “real-pen” technology, to simulate handwritten addresses. Many have seen simulated handwriting before, sometimes it’s ink-jetted, sometimes it’s a typeface. But this new system is capable of writing addresses on envelopes using an actual ink pen, and it can do it at a rate of up to 100,000 addresses a day. It can use carefully crafted typefaces mimicking handwriting or it can be programmed to replicate actual handwritten text.

The look was astoundingly realistic. So, working with GLS, Courage Center did a test mailing using the new system and comparing it to an ink-jetted script font. The results were equally amazing: response rates doubled.

Impressive results

Ultimately, the full mailing yielded similar results; Courage Center had looked for and found a technology that helped it succeed in improving its direct mail fundraising results in a challenging national economy.

Is Cheryl planning to use this new technique again? “Absolutely,” she says.

What about drawbacks? “It was absolutely seamless for me because Karin took care of the entire process so I didn’t have to try and manage two vendors. And that was so important so I could be on to other fundraising projects. Karin’s customer service is just outstanding.”

It can be done

Can a non-profit’s direct mail campaign succeed in a marketplace where donors are fewer and donations are smaller? Yes. It takes thought, an exploration of emerging technologies—and a helpful business partner.

To learn more about Courage Center, visit their website at www.couragecenter.org. If you’d like more information about the real-pen technology they used, contact a GLS account executive!