Contributions Are in the Bag for Food-Rescue Group
City Harvest, a New York group that collects perishable food for soup kitchens, wrapped up several new direct-mail contributions with a brown-bag appeal. The solicitation was designed to remind people that some people cannot afford to fill a lunch bag with food. When it was sent to nearly 14,000…
By Holly Hall
Contributor
Once Is Not Enough For Some Donors, Hospital Learns
Like many charities, New York City’s Calvary Hospital seeks to avoid annoying its direct-mail donors by offering to send them just one solicitation a year. But the Bronx facility for terminally ill cancer patients recently decided to bend the policy, after realizing that more than 900 people who…
By Holly Hall
Contributor
How One Charity Takes Advantage of the Gender Gap
Some people say that men and women are from different planets when it comes to relationships. They’re also worlds apart when it comes to direct-mail solicitations from charities, a British group has learned. Help the Aged, a London charity that provides medical and other services to poor elderly…
By Holly Hall
Contributor
Typeface Change Spells an Increase in Contributions
Many direct-mail innovations are complicated and ex-pensive to undertake. But sometimes a simple cosmetic alteration can significantly increase fund-raising results. At Gay Men’s Health Crisis in New York, for example, a change in typeface gave the organization’s appeals an up-to-date look. In a…
By Holly Hall
Contributor
Fund Raisers Put Their Direct-Mail Solicitations to the Test
Keeping the costs of direct-mail appeals as low as possible is a constant struggle for most charities. The pressure will grow even more intense starting next year, when postage rates rise and many charities will face double-digit percentage increases in their postal bills. To make direct-mail fund…
By Holly Hall
Contributor
Charitable-Trust Donors May Be Surprised by Lower Payments in Bear Market
If the stock market continues to fall, some donors who set up charitable trusts could be in for a shock. Many contributors have received misleading projections from fund raisers about the financial benefits they would receive from the trusts, experts say. At issue are projections used to market…
By Holly Hall
Contributor
Too Much for Charities to Bear?
As stock market seesaws, fund raisers fear year-end drop in major gifts The volatile stock market has made some donors reluctant to give -- and is prompting numerous charities to take steps to prevent what could be a significant downturn in giving this year. While many fund raisers say that it is…
By Holly Hall
Contributor
Senators Mull Restrictions on Charity Mail Sweepstakes
Congress is considering new restrictions that could limit charities’ ability to raise money from sweepstakes mailings. At a Senate subcommittee hearing last week, legislators debated a range of measures -- including new disclosure requirements -- for sweepstakes and other mass-mail appeals. Their…
By Holly Hall
Contributor
Under Oregon fund raiser’s watch, gifts to hospital rise by 500 per cent Portland, Ore. When John Stuart May announced in June that he planned to step down from his position as the chief fund raiser here at Doernbecher Children’s Hospital, the board moved quickly to get him to stay on -- as a board…
By Holly Hall
Contributor
Group Sues Postal Service Over Charity Rate Hike
A coalition of 200 non-profit groups has sued the Postal Service in an attempt to persuade the courts to cancel postage increases that are due to take effect on January 10. The Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers filed a lawsuit in the U.S. Court of Appeals here, arguing that the Postal Service has acted…
By Holly Hall
Contributor