Future Fundraising Now

Tag: envelopes

  • Want to raise more? Know your donors!

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    Jeff Brooks
    in

    I really like this envelope that showed up in my mail: It has a lot going on, but there’s one thing I especially want to point out. See those two “handwritten” lines at the lower left? “Find your glasses.Sit down. Read immediately.” If you’re under 40, that probably seems like nonsense to you. For most…

  • Today’s best fundraising envelope

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    by

    Jeff Brooks
    in

    In today’s mail: Several interesting things to point out about this envelope: The piece is probably donor acquisition, but I’m a deeply lapsed (very deeply lapsed) donor, so it could be a reactivation effort. I rate this envelope a winner. It leans completely on mystery: Unusual stock, no teaser or sender ID, weird element printed…

  • The triumph of the weird in fundraising

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    Jeff Brooks
    in

    I’ve received this piece of mail at least twice. I don’t have any reason to think about changing my auto insurance, so I’ve never opened it. But it did grab my attention, and I’d like to point out one feature of the outer envelope that I believe is powerful. (The fact I’ve got it more…

  • Wacky envelopes work in fundraising

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    Jeff Brooks
    in

    Just got this piece in the mail from the ACLU: We are not a recent donors to the ACLU, so this is donor acquisition. And I’m quite sure I’ve seen this before a number of times, but with a key difference: It has been a “normal” envelope color, a light brown we usually call manila.…

  • Size matters in fundraising

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    Jeff Brooks
    in

    When you see this direct mail envelope that showed up in my mailbox, you might ask, “What were they thinking?” The thing is huge. 11″ x 13.75″. It had to be folded in half to fit in the mailbox. In direct mail, big envelopes do well. This one is not for a nonprofit, but something…

  • Weird lessons from a fundraising return envelope

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    Jeff Brooks
    in

    Take a look at a return envelope that recently came in the mail from Easter Seals. It’s a donor cultivation piece (likely for a lapsed donor) that features a full-size wall calendar for next year. But there are several interesting things about this lowly return envelope worth looking at: It’s a window return envelope. That’s…

  • The envelope has 2 sides — you can use both

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    by

    Jeff Brooks
    in

    From commercial direct marketing, a lesson in envelope design. Here’s the front. Not too promising. They don’t even care who gets it, as long as they’re at this address. Yawn. I’m about to recycle it. But then I turn it over and see the back: Whoa! It suddenly got a lot more interesting! Who’d throw…