Questions to Answer Before Requesting a Quote from a Direct Mail Fundraising Consultant

By Alan Sharpe, CFREIf your charity wants to retain the services of a direct mail fundraising firm to conduct your next mailing, answer these questions before you pick up the phone. You’ll save yourself a lot of time, and give the firm everything they need to give you an accurate quote.

Your organization

• What is the name of your charity?
• What does your charity do?
• Is your charity local, regional, national or international?
• What is your address?
• What is your phone number?
• What is your website address?
• What is the name and job title of your primary contact person for this mailing?
• What is this person’s phone number and email address?
• What is your annual budget from all sources (fundraising, government grants, product sales, membership fees, and so on)?
• How much money do you raise each year through direct mail?

Your donor database

• How many donors, of all kinds, current and lapsed, do you have in your donor database?
• How many of those donors give a donation in a typical year?
• In a typical year, how many donors stop giving?

Direct mail donor acquisition

• Do you acquire donors through the mail?
• If yes, how many acquisition mailings do you mail each year?
• How many pieces do you mail for each acquisition mailing?
• How many donors do you acquire per mailing, on average?
• Do you use premiums in your acquisition mailings?
• What is your average net cost to acquire a donor?

Donor renewal

• How many times do you mail your donors each year, asking for a donation?
• How many pieces do you mail each time?
• What is an average response rate for a renewal mailing?
• What is your average gift for a renewal mailing?
• Do you have a donor newsletter that you mail?
• If yes, how many times a year do you mail your donor newsletter?

Monthly giving

• Do you have a monthly giving program?
• If yes, how many monthly donors do you have?
• How do you acquire your monthly donors?
• What is the size of an average monthly gift?

If your mailing is to acquire new donors

• What is your case for support for this mailing?
• How many pieces do you want to mail?
• Is your charity able to trade names with other charities?
• If yes, how many names can you trade?
• How many names do you want to rent?
• Do you have any rental lists in mind (ones that have worked well in the past)?
• What do you want to test with this mailing?
• Do you have a control package?
• What are you imagining this package will consist of (size of outer envelope? size of letterhead? length of letter in pages? reply device attached or detached? business reply envelope?)
• Will there be a premium in this mailing?
• Will there be an insert, such as a donor survey or a petition?
• What is your budget for this mailing?
• Which of the following are included in your budget?
  Strategy
  Writing
  Design
  List rental
  Printing
  Premium (front-end or back-end)
  Lettershop
  Postage
  Taxes

If your mailing is to renew current and lapsed donors

• What is your case for support for this mailing?
• What are you imagining this package will consist of (size of outer envelope? size of letterhead? length of letter in pages? reply device attached or detached? business reply envelope?)
• Do you want to segment your letter (new donors, current donors, lapsed donors, monthly donors, for example)?
• If yes, what are the segments?
• Will your letter or reply device suggest donation amounts based on the donor’s last gift, or some other criteria?
• What do you want to test with this mailing?
• What is your budget for this mailing?
• Which of the following are included in your budget?
  Strategy
  Writing
  Design
  Printing
  Premium (front-end or back-end)
  Lettershop
  Postage
  Taxes

Learn More
Read Mail Superiority: How to Run a Profitable Annual Direct Mail Fundraising Program.