Why donors hang onto business reply envelopes for 12 months or longer is beyond me. But they do. Does this mean you can never know the success of your direct mail campaigns until you have received every last response and every last dollar? No, because you can use doubling day instead.

Doubling day is that point in a direct-mail appeal life cycle when you can anticipate that half the responses have been received. Doubling day can measure the total number of responses received, or the total amount of money received (although these two days are likely to be different).

For example, if you mail 5,000 pieces and receive 25 replies by doubling day, multiply by two. You can expect a total of fifty inquiries, for a one percent response rate. Depending on the class of mail you use for your mailing envelope and reply envelope, doubling day will occur at different intervals, expressed as the number of days since the promotion was mailed. Your doubling day, obviously, can only be known when you have mailed at least a couple of direct mail campaigns to the same audience at the same time of year.

According to the folks who know such things, most non-profit mailers receive half of their responses on the eighteenth day after dropping their campaign into the mail, when mailing bulk rate. Your results may vary.

Knowing your doubling day helps you optimize revenue. Most non-profit organizations that rely on the mail for the bulk of their donated income drop each fundraising appeal in the mail just as the previous one has reached its peak and is declining. That way, they have a package in the mail every day of the year. Knowing your doubling day helps you time your appeals so that you mail as many as possible during the year without annoying your donors or cannibalizing your response.

Doubling Day is the traditional tool that non-profits use to predict the success of their direct mail fundraising campaigns while they are in the mail, but it’s useful only if it’s consistent. A number of things can throw off your doubling day.

Delays in mail delivery
In Canada and the United States, doubling day is turning into doubling month. Every mail class has been going up at least three days in delivery, so that each class is harder to rely on.

Class of mail
Naturally, if you use first-class postage on your mailing envelope and your business reply envelope you will reach doubling day sooner than if you use bulk class and no postage on your BRE.

Unusually large gifts in previous campaigns
If you use doubling day to measure the amount of money raised rather than the number of responses received, one or more unusually large single gifts in previous campaigns will skew your doubling day, making it appear to arrive sooner than it does. Remove those large gifts from your calculation to arrive at an accurate doubling day.

Contents of the direct mail package
If your mailing contains a newsletter or brochure or something else that donors will likely hang on to, this may draw out your doubling day. Some donors respond to these types of mailings months after they have dropped.

Time of year
The same is true for Christmas appeals. Donors who receive them in November often hang onto the package until the end of December before responding. So, at Christmas, expect your doubling day to be the same day it was for the previous year’s Christmas appeal, not the previous month’s appeal.

Learn more

Handbook Number 16
Direct Mail Fundraising Arithmetic Demystified.
Master 14 common formulas that help you measure-and improve-your DM fundraising results.

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A fundraising letter fanatic, of course, is someone who thinks the only thing you can mail a donor is a fundraising letter. But that’s just one of more than 40 things you can mail to make friends and raise funds using paper and postage.

1. Acquisition package: Designed to attract new donors.
2. Welcome kit: An assortment of informational pieces and a cover letter, mailed to first-time donors, welcoming them to your organization and your cause.
3. Thank-you letter: The most important letter in direct mail fundraising, and it should never ask for a gift.
4. Renewal letter: Designed to persuade last year’s donors to renew their support again this year.
5. Member renewal letter: Mailed by member-based organizations to members whose membership is about to expire and must be renewed.
6. Reminder letter: Mailed a few weeks after your appeal letter, encouraging donors who have not responded to give. Popular at year-end.
7. Lapsed donor recovery letter: Mailed to donors who have not given a gift in 12 months or more, inviting them back on the train.
8. Monthly donor conversion letter: Mailed to annual donors (those who respond to your annual appeals), inviting them to join (convert to) your monthly giving program.
9. Special appeal: Mailed during the year to raise funds for a special cause, often an emergency, such as a natural disaster.
10. Year-end appeal: Letter that capitalizes on the year-end tax advantages and “spirit of the season” of Christmas.
11. Upgrade letter: Appeal inviting donors to increase the dollar amount (and sometimes frequency) of their gifts.
12. Donor club invitation: Letter inviting high-dollar donors to join a President’s Circle or other exclusive donor group.
13. Legacy gift prospecting letter: Mailed to a select group in your house file, asking if they are interested in making a planned gift (bequest, charitable remainder trust, and so on).
14. Special event invitation: A card or letter inviting donors and potential donors to a golf tournament, banquet, concert or other fundraising event.
15. Newsletter: Sent to current donors to inform them of how your organization is using their donations to change the world.
16. Annual report: Usually mailed to major donors, loyal donors and donors with influence.
17. Survey: Designed to solicit the opinions of donors and prospective donors.
18. Petition: Mailed by advocacy organizations (Amnesty International and Mother Against Drunk Driving, for example) to members, inviting them to complete and mail the petitions, usually to a decision-maker in federal government.
19. Member-get-a-member letter: Mailed by member-based organizations, inviting members to recruit new members to the organization.
20. Pledge appeal: Usually sent during capital campaigns, these appeals ask recipients to pledge a larger-than-normal gift (for the donor, that is) towards the campaign, a pledge that is usually honored by the donor by making a number of gifts over a period of a year or two.
21. Congratulatory card: Mailed to donors on the occasion of the donors’ wedding anniversary, birthday or other special event.
22. Testimonial: Written endorsements from clients or donors or others affected by the work of your organization, usually accompanying an appeal letter.
23. Plaque: Sent to faithful or particularly generous donors as a sign of your gratitude for their extraordinary support.
24. Gift catalog: Describes through pictures and text the items that donors can buy from your organization to support your work (a goat for a family in India, for example).
25. Resource catalog: Describes the books, DVDs and other educational materials that donors can order to educate themselves and others about your cause and the people you help.
26. Matching gift appeal: Invites donors to give gifts that, collectively, match a large gift made by another donor.
27. Newspaper clipping: Has your charity received favorable press recently? Mail a copy of the article to your donors (with the newspaper’s permission).
28. Quiz: Do you want to stir the imaginations of your donors, particularly if they are under the age of 12? Mail them a quiz that gets them thinking about a vital subject (climate change, poverty, nuclear war, homelessness, for example).
29. Factsheet: Sometimes you need to give your donors statistics and facts and figures, maybe even a history of your organization. Put these into a factsheet.
30. Special report: Dealing with a hot and timely topic that will galvanize your constituents.
31. Calendar: Special calendar that highlights special events of yours and days during the year that are of interest to you and your donors.
32. Special event teaser: Postcards or other short notices that pique the curiosity of your supporters about upcoming events.
33. Photographs: Mailed to donors to show the before-and-after results of their generosity.
34. Premium: Return address labels, notepads and other incentives designed to persuade the recipients to donate.
35. Freemium: Items enclosed with a direct mail appeal that have no intrinsic value, but help you communicate your appeal in a tangible, memorable way. A hospital, for example, might enclose a facsimile of a patient bracelet once worn by a young cancer survivor.
36. Involvement device: Scratch-off cards, checkboxes and other devices that involve the donor in meaningful ways and encourage a donation.
37. Brochure: Shows in pictures and words what you cannot discuss in the body of your letter.
38. Reprint: Has your CEO just given a speech to the United Nations? Transcribe the speech and mail it to your donors (assuming your CEO is a dynamic speaker, of course!).
39. Progress report: Mailed to donors, usually major donors, who have designated their gifts to a particular project, and who need to be kept informed about your progress with their money.
40. Follow-up note: Mailed after you’ve phoned your donor or made a personal visit, usually to thank the donor.
41. Income tax receipt: The more of these you have to mail each year, the better, right?

You might be interested in…

Mail Superiority. Learn the proven, step-by-step process for raising funds and friends cost effectively, year after year.

And don’t pass up…

Handbook Number 10 Six Insider Secrets of Running a Profitable Annual Fundraising Letter Program. Proven techniques from the professionals for building long-term relationships with your donors and members.

Handbook Number 12 How to Write Effective Direct Mail Fundraising Reply Devices. Attract the gifts you need by making the donation process quick and painless for your donors (and you).

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In split-run tests, non-profit organizations have discovered that an envelope bearing a row of commemorative stamps often outpulls an identical envelope bearing a postal indicia or metered postage.

The reason is human nature. A stamp has a human touch. Unlike postal indicias and metered postage, a stamp is placed on an envelope by a person and not a machine. Stamps make the envelope look more personalized and less institutional.

You have only three ways to add postage to your letters. The most personal is a stamp, what people in the trade call a “live stamp.” Which is a redundant moniker since all stamps are live. A stamp is a stamp.

Metered postage
One step down on the friendliness scale is metered postage (above). Metered postage is applied to each envelope in the lettershop using a laser printer or ink- jet printer. Metered postage is usually dated as well, giving it a look of immediacy. Plus, some machines let the mailer add a slogan or line of promotional copy next to the postage, which further serves to make metered postage more personal-looking than a postal indicia.

Postal indicia
The most institutional-looking postage of the three is a postal indicia (above). Even if it is for first-class mail, a postal indicia screams “bulk mail.” A postal indicia looks official, and so it is at the wrong end of the scale for communicating that your message is from one person to another.

Stamps
If you want your letter to look as personal as possible, line up a row of commemorative stamps of different denominations until you reach the correct postage for the class of mail you’re using (above). Commemorative stamps catch the eye and add human interest to your envelope. A row of them makes your envelope stand out even more.

If you’re worried that you lack the time and manpower to affix postage by hand to thousands of envelopes, don’t worry. Your post office likely sells standard envelopes with first-class stamps already affixed.

You might be interested in…

101 Irresistible Direct Mail Fundraising Envelopes. Borrow inspiration from the ingenuity and daring of more than 70 non-profit organizations. This is an electronic book delivered by mail on a CD-ROM in Adobe Acrobat format.

Handbook Number 18 Boost Your Response Rates and Income with Simply Irresistible Fundraising Letter Envelopes. Learn from 22 examples of fundraising letter packages that really push the envelope.

Handbook Number 20 Think Like Your Donors to Raise More Funds with Direct Mail Letters. Discover the secrets to building long-term, profitable relationships with your donors.

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