USPS Rate Increase News

FYI to fundraisers that use direct mail... quick info on postage rate increase from USPS, courtesy of friends at Diamond Marketing Solutions:

The USPS announced (January 13) that they plan to increase rates on April 17, not in May as previously expected.

The increase will average 1.7%, but we expect significant variations by rate category. You will need to check the changes for the specific categories you use to determine the impact on your budget. We hope to have comparisons by rate category shortly and will publish them as soon as they are available.

Postmaster General Pat Donahoe told a group of mailing industry executives this morning that the Postal Service is filing their rate increase request with the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) this afternoon. The PRC must approve the rates, but their approval is limited to determining that the proposed rates do not exceed the CPI rate cap (currently 1.7%) mandated by law.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user katmere.

Interesting, Unexpected Appeal

When getting my groceries at a local grocery store while vacationing in Northern Michigan earlier this summer (Northport, to be exact... it's heavenly), I found a surprise appeal in my grocery bag. I do not know how successful the piece is at raising funds, but I imagine it does well at building community awareness and the case for support for Child & Family Services of Northwestern Michigan. Have you ever tried one like this? How well did it work at raising money? Awareness?

Since the image quality is low, here is the text:

This little bag could change a life.

Dear Friend,

Sam is deaf due to his parents' medical neglect. Crystal's mom is drug addicted and cannot parent or maintain a safe home for her children. Jake was sexually abused by a family member he trusted.

These are just three of the children in our community who were abused or neglected. They deserve better. They deserve to be safe, and happy.

In the last year, more than 400 children were served by Child and Family Services' foster care program. Many arrive on our doorstep with their belongings - the few they have - in a brown or plastic bag.

Children shouldn't have to live with abuse and neglect. Please help us provide them with all the services they need by taking three easy steps:

1. Place a check, payable to "Child and Family Services" in this bag.
2. Fold the open end of the bag on the dotted line and tape or staple closed.
3. Place a stamp on the bag and mail.

Child and Family Services is a private, nonprofit organization that has been serving children in need in northern Michigan since 1937. Your contribution stays in our community.

Learn more about us: 1.800.538.9984 www.cfsnwmi.org

Typographical Sins

There's something about publishing a post on typographical sins that is a bit intimidating, particularly when doing so at three in the morning, halfway through a fifteen hour roadtrip. And being composed (HTML and all) on an iPhone. But I love y'all so much, so here goes...

I'm 99% sure I'll find errors when I revisit this post later today ;-)

I bring you this list of considerations for your appeals & case-building materials. All I ask you to do? Read this and write appeals as if Jim Godfrey were one of your most promising donor prospects.

The following is an excerpt from the For Print Only blog. Poster by designer Jim Godfrey

Jim Godfrey is a typography teacher. Jim Godfrey is often irritated by the typographic sins of students who join his class semester after semester. Jim Godfrey decided to do something about it and, after consulting with his colleague Patrick Wilkey, a list of 34 unprofessional ways to set type was drafted. It took three years from beginning to the final letterpressed poster run of 38--not enough paper to account for print ready made this first impression a short one. A second one will likely happen when all existing copies are sold.

The poster:

When Personalized Data Go Bad... And Go Right.

Marketing and fundraising can use data to personalize the donor/customer experience, which can have a positive impact on the relationships of an organization's efforts. However, the quality of this impact is only as strong as your data and the systems you have in place to manage them. Two examples follow...

Data personalization gone wrong occurred Friday when AT&T emailed my wife a happy birthday message and coupon. AT&T doesn't know that I manage both of our phone bills online w/ my email... so I don't fault them for emailing me the birthday message. I'll make sure she knows they cared enough to send their very best ;) However, take a look at the message, for context:

The issues:

• It came the day after my wife's birthday. Huge deal? No. But it makes AT&T look like they don't pay attention to the details. If AT&T has a system in place to send these out on Fridays (Maybe in hopes of weekend shopping use), they could simply change it to say "As our gift to you for your recent birthday..." or something similar. This error is one I probably would have overlooked, if not compounded by...
• The "Participating stores near you" lists two stores in Ann Arbor which were near us... When we lived in Ann Arbor. I updated my address with AT&T a couple of months ago. Hmm... I think someone's data systems are not talking to each other as well as they could.

These issues could just as well happened at a non-profit. In fact, I'm quite certain it happens more often at non-profits than places like AT&T. Why? Because the right and left hand are often failing to communicate at non-profits. Consider taking these actions:

• Have a clear data management policy. When updates come in, where do they go? Does everyone understand this?
• Make it easy for gift officers to email/share information. Can gift officers or volunteers send an email to updates@yourorg.org?
• Review marketing and solicitation communications for language like the birthday message above to make sure your automated systems are worded accurately.

On the flip side... My wife ordered some makeup from Sephora a couple days before her birthday via the website. Because she has an account with them via the website (that included her birthday information at sign-up), they prompted her as to whether or not she would like to include her birthday gift - which you normally receive when shopping at one of the brick & mortar stores - with the online order. And the receipt that came with the order even said "Happy birthday beautiful!" (Which honestly made me wonder if I had ordered it for her in her sleep or if she had actually sent herself a birthday message!).

All great use of personal data. So I dug on Sephora's website and found this policy. Kudos Sephora!

All Beauty Insiders are eligible to receive a get-gorgeous birthday gift from Sephora. Your gift will be automatically included with any merchandise order placed at Sephora.com within 14 days of your birthday. To include the gift with your order, simply place a check in the box on the Beauty Insider page of the checkout process.

If you are within the correct timeframe, but you do not see the birthday gift as you are checking out, please call customer service at 877-SEPHORA before placing your order so that we can assist you further. If your birthday timeframe has passed for this year, rest assured, we will have another exciting gift next year. We regret that we are unable to send the birthday gift from Sephora.com without a merchandise order, and we thank you for your understanding.

If you prefer, you can also pick up your birthday gift at a Sephora retail store during the same timeframe. When picking up your birthday gift at one of our retail locations, please make sure to let our Cast Members know that you are a Beauty Insider by presenting your Beauty Insider Card or referencing your registered email address. No purchase is necessary to receive your gift at a Sephora store.

I never thought I would be bringing you my wife's birthday, AT&T or Sephora Through Non-Profit Eyes, but that's one of the reasons I blog ...to share best practice for non-profits from other media and industries!

For more on data management and its importance, see Supporting Advancement's Prospect & Donor Records page.

Be Our Guest: Diana Keim

Diana Keim, Senior Director of Development with City of Hope for the previous five years is our latest Be Our Guest participant. Diana is a University of Southern California alum who also spent ten years working in development for her alma mater. She also happens to be a wonderful person, should you get the opportunity to get to know her!

I thank Diana for taking part in the Be Our Guest series. Enjoy her answers and provide your thoughts in the comments

What is the biggest challenge your fundraising efforts currently face?

Acquiring new donors. 2008 and 2009 were lower fundraising years for everyone, and 2010 has been incredibly good for us, revenue-wise. However, acquiring new donors for the health of our donor file has been increasingly difficult. It's the only area of our annual giving fundraising efforts that hasn't recovered to a level I'm comfortable with. Not being in higher ed fundraising anymore, this is an area that is more difficult to tackle. We don't get new graduates every year. :)

What are you doing to overcome these challenges?

Instead of solely relying on direct mail acquisition, we are going to be entering the "digital media" arena. We will begin these efforts, in test capacities, in Fall 2010.

Current Campaign:

What is the most successful change/program implementation you have made in your current role?

More mailings hitting our donors, believe it or not. My first full year in FY 2006, we went from 11 mailings per year to 17, including the creation of a donor-focused newsletter. We spent the same amount of money to run the direct mail program, but raised another $600,000+, all net revenue.

Where do you see social-media’s best application for fundraising?

I truly don't know. I see it as as an advocacy media, instead of true fundraising. But I'd love to be proved wrong.

City of Hope on: Twitter / Facebook / YouTube / Flickr / MySpace

And check out the great social media landing page:

Follow-up: Postal Rate Increase

In a previous post, we reviewed early impressions of the proposed postal rate increase, scheduled for January, 2011. Action must be taken on the proposal by October 4th, meaning it will be approved, rejected or tweaked by that date. I have looked at the proposal in detail and consulted with various other experts on the details. So that you can plan and budget appropriately, please see this synopsis on the primary postage rates (Thank you POSTCOM & DMS for insights and much of the verbiage):

Non-Profit Mail

• Non-Profit automation rate letters have increases ranging from less than 1% to 2.8%, the best of any category.
• Non-Profit flats increases behave similar to the Standard Mail experience noted below with generally lower increases.
• Enhanced Carrier Route mailings also tend to reflect the Standard Mail increases noted below with generally slightly lower increases.

First Class Letters

• Automation rate (bar-coded) letters weighing less than one ounce will see an increase of about 6%
• Heavier automation rate letters (2 ounces to 3.5 ounces) will see increases ranging from 2.9% to 4.5% with heavier pieces seeing the lowest increases.
• Postcard increases range from 4.5% to 6.34 %
• A Reply Rides Free program would credit mailers who include a reply devise in a mailing for the additional ounce charge if the piece weighs between 1 ounce and 1.2 ounces. Various conditions apply.

Standard Mail

• The increase for Standard Mail automation rate letters will vary based on whether the mailing takes advantage of the drop ship discounts. Drop ship mailings (usually larger mailings) will see increases ranging from 5.5% to 6.2% while mailings that don't use the drop ship discounts (usually smaller mailings) will see increases of 4.3% to 4.8%.
• For Standard Mail Flat size pieces you will have to check the individual rate category into which your mailing falls. The increases range from less than 1% to double digit increases.
• Enhanced Carrier Route mailings also have a wide range of increases, although some of the more commonly used categories see increases of 3% to 6%.

New Postal Rates in January 2011

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Please see an update on this post here.

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As easy as it is for us to focus on social media, email, etc., direct mail is still important for making your case and soliciting gifts. That being said, news that postal rates will increase again require proper budgetary planning. Some of the pertinent details:

• Non-profit rates will increase, some significantly. The variance depends on many of the United States Postal Service criteria (sorting, weight, destination network distribution center / destination sectional center facility / automated area distribution center status, etc.), but my initial review of the proposal shows increases from small amounts to upwards of 9%.
• For the overall changes, USPS states an average increase of 5.6%.
• The standard Forever Stamp will increase by two cents to $0.46.
• Mailers with reply envelopes/cards and significant enough quantities (like many annual giving appeals) can weigh up 1.2 ounces without additional postage (other mailings see additional fees after surpassing 1.0 ounces).
• Periodicals (magazines/newspapers) increase by an average of 8%.
• While these rates still need approval, early indications are that these will be approved and implemented in January 2011.
• There is a group of representatives from industries who do a significant portion of business via mail that is lobbying against the increase. We shall see if they have any luck.
• For a file containing the newly proposed prices, click here.

I will let you know as I learn more,

DTM

P.S. The new forever stamp design, for the philatelists out there: