Should I Use Direct Mail?

You may be asking yourself: is direct mail the best way to raise funds? Does it cost too much? Will I be comfortable using direct mail? Those are good questions. The truth is direct mail is not the right fund raising medium for every organization. But, did you know that virtually every major conservative group in America, not to mention almost all campaigns for public office, rely on direct mail as their primary fund raising medium? For many others, it is a major component that their overall fund raising effort depends on.

The Core Fund Raising Medium
Direct mail really is different. In fact, most nonprofit leaders and campaign managers agree that direct mail truly is the core component of any successful fund raising program. Direct mail will not only raise hundreds of thousands, possibly millions, of net dollars for your cause, but will also enable you to identify individuals who will make very large gifts upon your personal solicitation. Direct mail will help you to draw in support for your special events. And direct mail for conservative advocacy groups will make it possible for you to create an effective deferred giving program so that your organization can continue, even after you are gone, thanks to the wills and bequests you generate from your loyal and faithful supporters. Direct mail can not only build a direct mail donor base, but as a client of Eberle Associates you will have online, 24/7 instant access to all this information via our Client Extranet. By using the Client Extranet you'll be able to identify high dollar donors, candidates for your deferred giving program, and individuals who may wish to participate in special events.

Is Direct Mail an Efficient Way of Raising Funds?
The truth is that direct mail is costly, especially in the early stages of building your house list. As explained in How Does Direct Mail Work? building your house file is the key to raising net income for your organization or political campaign. However, while it appears to be an inefficient process for raising funds, it is the most efficient process yet developed for gathering funds from conservative donors from coast-to-coast and border to border. Patriotic Americans in small towns and in large cities look for opportunities to participate in and support efforts to preserve freedom for their children and future generations of Americans. They want the United States to not only be a great nation, but a good nation. Direct mail gives them an opportunity to be a part of something big and important, and they feel better about themselves when they support your organization. But to get right down to the bottom line of the cost of direct mail fund raising, please read Where Does All the Money Go? This free publication will give you an unvarnished picture of the cost of direct mail fund raising.

Will I Be Comfortable Using Direct Mail?
Understandably, those who have never before used direct mail may have a number of misconceptions regarding how direct mail really works. One common misconception is that in order to be effective, direct mail has to exaggerate reality and make unsubstantiated claims. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, your direct mail fund raising appeal cannot pull any punches when it comes to telling the donor the absolute truth. For a greater understanding of the necessity of conveying the brutal truth to your prospective donors, please read Don't Go Begging In Your Tuxedo.

There's another aspect of direct mail that you will need to be comfortable with and that's the critical importance of building a relationship with your donor base. This means frequent mailings to your donors as is explained in more detail in Building A Relationship With Your Donors. It's important to reach a comfort level in using direct mail if you want to use it to its maximum effectiveness.

Is Direct Mail Right for You?
If you are one of those select groups that can take advantage of national direct mail fund raising, then your fund raising future is bright. Don't guess, take the test found under Stop! Take This Test to find out if your organization or political campaign has a good chance of success for raising funds through the mail.