Revisiting Take 14

Direct mail has got to go.

A few weeks ago I shared a personal story about my dad and the thousands of unsolicited mail appeals that he received each year. Where he is now, they don’t forward mail. So what to do with the piles of junk mail sent from nonprofits? And it is junk – this form of fundraising must stop.

I wanted to share what I learned from talking with the wonderful postman from his neighborhood.

Because nonprofits get such a cheap postal rate for these “direct mail” appeals, the postal service will neither forward nor return them. It just doesn’t make financial sense for them to spend more staff time on discounted mail. The only option is to put in a forwarding mail request, in which case they’ll throw them out.

I tried writing “return to sender” on a few dozen. Guess what? They got redelivered!

So dad’s empty house and its future residents will continue receiving unwanted, ineffective junk mail from nonprofits until those organizations decide to stop sending it. That will likely be years from now.

3 weeks worth of junky nonprofit appeals to dad. Trying to figure out how to make them stop led me dangerously close to his liquor cabinet below

The only option to stop the delivery of this kind of nonprofit solicitation letter is to contact every single organization and ask them to stop sending them. The irony! He received most by the mistake of donating to one that shared his name and address with others.

Clever, Passionate Readers, I implore you. Help stop this wasteful, impersonal form of fundraising. It’s hopelessly dated in our modern world of electronic communication. It’s expensive to the nonprofit. It’s annoying to the recipient. And I’m sure we can think of a better use for paper – or trees.

Here’s the short list from my earlier post of what each of us can do:

1. As board members or volunteers – Insist that any direct mail budget be reallocated to fund development staffing, tools to prioritize donor relationships, or small events to meet and talk to donors and prospects.

2. As donors – When you make a gift, explicitly request “no list sharing” or “no mail,” or ask that you receive a single solicitation at the time you usually give (e.g., yearend). All these requests can be easily accommodated.

3. As mail recipients – Take a moment to find the sending organization’s website and complete an online contact form or email them to make it clear you do not want this mail.

4. As taxpayers – Complete this form to raise concerns about your dollars funding discounted postal rates for unwanted mail. The Postal Regulatory Commission that oversees USPS holds proceedings (a formal, public process to examine issues and produce a decision or product) informed by these complaints.

Share your success stories in the comments below. Better yet, email me about a nonprofit that got out of the business of direct mail. Now that’s something I’d love to share in a future interview.