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Dear Ohdeuk,
After a short e-break, we're back! Happy Holidays from Mal Warwick & Associates!
If you have friends or colleagues who could use help with their fundraising (and isn't that everyone?), please use the "Pass it along!" link at the bottom, or simply forward this message. Thanks!
Here are the latest fundraising tips and insights from Mal Warwick & Associates, plus highlights from the most recent issue of Mal Warwick's Newsletter: Successful Direct Mail, Telephone, and Online Fundraising. This e-newsletter now goes out to over 4,000 people in over 60 countries each month!
www.malwarwick.com/newsletter/success0512.html
In This Issue:
1. Questioning conventional wisdom
2. The long and short of it
3. An ideal insert
4. Segundo Congreso Hemisférico de Fundraising en América Latina
5. Order Now! Mal's newest book on raising $1,000 gifts by mail
6. Ask E-Mal
7. Steve Hitchcock's Mailbag
8. Available now! Steve Hitchcock's book, "Open Immediately!"
9. What's Up Online, by Dan Weeks
10. Client of the Month: Democracy for America
11. Steve Hitchcock's suggestion for December
12. Archived Issues
1. QUESTIONING CONVENTIONAL WISDOM
Ever since the celebrated American economist John Kenneth Galbraith coined the term "conventional wisdom" 40 or 50 years ago, those beliefs have gotten a bad rap. It may be rash to subscribe reflexively to widespread beliefs -- but they're not always wrong. So, let's examine some of the convictions that together comprise direct mail fundraising's conventional wisdom to see whether there's any true wisdom to be found in them.
Complete text: www.malwarwick.com/wisdom.html
2. THE LONG AND SHORT OF IT
When it comes to writing a direct mail fundraising letter, one of the most common questions is invariably how long should it be. The stock answer, of course -- as we've said time and again in the pages of this newsletter -- is however long it takes to tell your story and make your case for giving. But the reality is that letter length is often dictated by budgetary issues, package format, or strategic approach. Or, in far too many cases, the old refrain: "That's what we always do."
Complete text: www.malwarwick.com/newsletter/success0512.html#longandshort
3. AN IDEAL INSERT
Inserts dropped into direct mail fundraising packages vary widely in shape, size, and content. But here's one characteristic every insert should have: It should serve to reinforce some element of the overall Marketing Concept established in the package. (If not, then just don't include it, for heaven's sake!) Of course, even better if the insert is clever, attractive to the eye, and well produced. That's certainly what drew us to an insert piece in a recent housefile mailing by Planned Parenthood Federation of America. The package includes a four-page letter describing PPFA's "Fill My Pills Now" campaign -- focusing on the issue of pharmacists refusing to fill birth control prescriptions.
Complete text: www.malwarwick.com/newsletter/success0512.html#inserts
4. SEGUNDO CONGRESO HEMISFÉRICO DE FUNDRAISING EN AMÉRICA LATINA
¡El primer Congreso Hemisférico tuvo un éxito rotundo! Más de 450 personas asistieron al Congreso de 2.005, en representación de organizaciones de 25 países. ¡No se pierda la oportunidad de mejorar su carrera y comenzar el año con el pie derecho! Únase con Mal Warwick, uno de los más destacados expositores de este evento importante, la conferencia principal de América Latina en recaudación de fondos. Realizado conjuntamente por la Association of Fundraising Professionals y The Resource Alliance. Marque en su agenda las fechas: del 26 al 28 de enero de 2.006. Se realizará el Congreso en el Sheraton Centro Histórico en la Ciudad de México. Regístrese sin demora para aprovecharse de un descuento. Para obtener mayor información o para inscribirse, hace clic en www.afpnet.org/hemispheric_congress_la
5. ORDER NOW! MAL'S NEWEST BOOK, "THE MERCIFULLY BRIEF, REAL WORLD GUIDE TO RAISING $1,000 GIFTS BY MAIL"
Raising gifts of $1,000 or more is the realm of face-to-face fundraising, right? Not exclusively, says Mal Warwick in his latest book. The mail works, too. Skeptical? Mal cites over 100 success stories, and gives you step-by-step advice on how to raise major gifts with relatively minor investments. Just follow Mal's lead in this admirably slim book.
More information: www.malwarwick.com/raising_1000.html
6. ASK E-MAL
Mal is waiting to answer your fundraising questions -- just go to www.malwarwick.com/askmal.html. Here's a recent question from a reader:
"Can a faith-based newspaper go after donations in the same way a nonprofit organization does?"
Mal answers: "Hmmm. I guess anybody can go after donations. To judge from some of the scams on the Internet, just about anybody already does! However, there are two significant differences between what you can do and what an established nonprofit organization can do:"
Complete text: www.malwarwick.com/askmal10.html#question463
Ask your own question or read questions previously answered by Mal:
www.malwarwick.com/askmal.html
7. STEVE HITCHCOCK'S MAILBAG
Steve Hitchcock answers a question about whether or not it's a good idea to send quarterly newsletters to lapsed donors:
"I'll give you a very precise answer to your question with a specific recommendation about your mailing. But you'll need to read to the end of this column. Your question offers an opportunity to provide some background on newsletters and fundraising. One of the paradoxes of direct mail fundraising is that newsletters are absolutely essential in maintaining donor retention, but they are very poor vehicles for either acquisition or re-activation. In other words ..."
Complete text: www.malwarwick.com/mailbag/mailbag0512.html
8. NOW AVAILABLE! "OPEN IMMEDIATELY! STRAIGHT TALK ON DIRECT MAIL FUNDRAISING -- WHAT WORKS, WHAT DOESN'T, AND WHY" by Steve Hitchcock
If you want straight talk about direct mail fundraising, do what the title says: open this book immediately. In it you'll find 81 brief chapters examining virtually every topic of importance to those who raise money by mail. Unlike other books that over-complicate the subject, Open Immediately! does just the opposite. It offers an elegantly simple and inviting approach to direct mail by focusing on one element at a time.
More information: www.malwarwick.com/open.html
9. WHAT'S UP ONLINE by Dan Weeks
Be sure to visit the Web site of The Jane Goodall Institute (JGI) to see a really interesting variation on the "adopt a child" theme. With JGI, you can "Become a Chimpanzee Guardian!," which gives adoptive parents a biography and photograph of the young chimpanzee, a Certificate of Guardianship, a chimpanzee poster, and more. Their Web site also features...
Complete text: www.malwarwick.com/newsletter/success0512.html#whatsup
10. CLIENT OF THE MONTH: DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA (Burlington, VT)
Inspired by the presidential campaign of Howard Dean in 2004, Democracy for America (DFA) was launched last year as a political action committee dedicated to supporting fiscally responsible, socially progressive candidates at all levels of government -- from school board races, to statewide offices, to the presidency. DFA fights against the influence of the far right-wing and their divisive policies and the selfish special interests that for too long have dominated our politics.
Mal Warwick & Associates began working with DFA in October, 2005, and will work with them to build their base of support and significantly increase their overall operating revenue.
You can learn more about Democracy for America by visiting their website at: www.democracyforamerica.com
11. STEVE HITCHCOCK'S SUGGESTION FOR DECEMBER
January is an ideal month to recruit monthly donors -- to help individuals get the new year started on a philanthropic footing. For your organization, that will mean 11 (or even 12) months of regular credit card and electronic funds transfers. Most organizations find that the telephone is the most effective way to convert your current donors into monthly donors. The best prospects for monthly giving are those who have just joined or those who have made several gifts -- but whose gifts are less than $100. These phone calls work best when carried out by a reputable telephone fundraising firm. If you can't phone, then send out a targeted mailing in early January, and, at the very least, promote monthly giving in the first issue of your 2006 newsletter.
12. Archived Issues
Feel free to peruse past articles from Successful Fundraising Online by visiting our newsletter index: www.malwarwick.com/newsletter/index.html
WANT MORE?
This electronic newsletter features only two of the many insightful and fact-filled articles that appear six times a year in each printed issue of "Mal Warwick's Newsletter: Successful Direct Mail, Telephone, and Online Fundraising." You can learn more -- and subscribe -- by calling, toll-free, (800) 217-7377.
Details at www.malwarwick.com/subscribe.html
TALK TO US!
What do you think of our newsletter? Some of the most interesting and challenging questions come from our readers -- we'd like to know what YOU think! Just drop us a note at news@malwarwick.com
PRIVACY POLICY
When you sign up to receive this newsletter, that's all you'll get! We don't share your name, e-mail address, or any other information.
COPYRIGHT NOTICE
The entire contents of this message are copyright (c) 2005 by Mal Warwick & Associates, Inc.
MAL WARWICK'S SUCCESSFUL FUNDRAISING ONLINE:
Steve Hitchcock, Executive Editor
Dan Weeks, Managing Editor
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