Practical year-end fundraising tips from our office to yours
It’s time: we’re headed into the calendar year-end. If you’re anything like us, the chaos is in full swing! So, let us bring some calm to the chaos. Here are some insights and practical year-end fundraising tips from across our team to make your year-end a little less stressful. Trust your strategic fundraising schedule. You […]
Direct Mail Production: What Will it Cost this Busy Season?
It has been a little while since I last reported on the state of direct mail production. In that time, direct mail has continued to endure a host of challenges: COVID-19, supply chain issues, labour and resource shortages, natural disasters, rising fuel prices, inflation, paper producer strikes, and paper mill closures – to name a […]
Why Do Benchmarks Matter to YOU?
Soon my fellow Good Workers and I will be releasing this year’s Canadian Direct Mail Benchmarks Report. As I was looking a draft of the report, two questions came to mind: Why are benchmarks important in the first place? Do fundraisers like you and me use benchmarks as much as we could (and should)? Today, […]
Your 2022 Canadian Direct Mail Benchmarks Report Is Here
Are you wondering how direct mail fared in the second year of the pandemic? Are you looking for reliable, Canadian-made direct mail metrics to benchmark against? Well look no further than the 2022 Canadian Direct Mail Benchmarks Report. It’s ready for your viewing pleasure, and you can download it right now (for free!) DOWNLOAD NOW […]
New Year Resolutions for Fundraisers in 2022
Ok, I realize I’m a little late to the game in sharing resolutions for 2022, but one of MY resolutions was to be a bit more “chill” this year (as my husband would put it). So instead of stressing about my resolution-sharing-tardiness, I’m going to dedicate this post to the fundraisers who are still recovering […]
How To Analyze Your Direct Mail Performance in 2021
So, how did your direct mail program do this year? That’s the question that’s on every mail fundraiser’s mind as we head into the final stretch of year-end. Gifts are being processed, cheques are being opened, digital campaigns are being scheduled – and through it all, we’re watching to see: Will we hit our targets […]
Navigating Direct Mail Production in 2022
As we approach the end of 2021, our uncertain future seems more uncertain than it has before. As if the emergence of new variants of COVID-19 weren’t enough, supply chain issues, labour and resource shortages and natural disasters feel like they are squeezing us from all sides. The direct mail world is not exempt from […]
Let Your Donors be the Jury
I’ve been a partner at Good Works for 25 years now. But, before I became a Good Worker, I was a client – twice! Back in the 1990s, I learned direct mail fundraising from the experts at Good Works. There was one lesson they taught me that stands above all the others – and that […]
My Big Benchmarks Surprise
Poor direct mail. It’s been the unpopular cousin of other fundraising channels in many people’s minds for years now. To many fundraisers, direct mail fundraising had its heyday back in the 1980s and 1990s, but then started its long, steady decline toward oblivion. ‘Cutting edge’ thinkers and fundraising pundits predicted that direct mail would just […]
Unlocking the Power of Donor Surveys
What single, magical tool can help you generate revenue, deepen donor loyalty, uncover donor interests, upgrade giving, AND find new leads? You guessed it: donor surveys. That’s exactly what I spoke about at this year’s Nonprofit Technology Conference, alongside Crystal Mahon of STARS Air Ambulance. We took a deep dive into how to build donor […]