November 1, 2001 | Read Time: 3 minutes
As the number of deaths from anthrax-contaminated mail rose last week, many charities scrambled to change the appearance of their direct-mail fund-raising appeals to reassure donors that the materials are safe. In addition, the Direct Mail Association has issued safety guidelines for its 5,000 members, including some 530 nonprofit organizations.
“We feel like in this context we can’t responsibly send out mail in a blank envelope anymore,” says Vivianne Potter, director of direct response for Amnesty International USA, in New York. The human-rights charity made a quick decision to stamp its address on a forthcoming appeal to about a million prospective donors.
Habitat for Humanity International, in Americus, Ga., also has stopped sending appeals without the charity’s return address. In the past, studies showed that envelopes without a return address were more likely to be opened, says Paul C. Miles, acting senior vice president for development. “Now all materials will have the Habitat name on it so people will understand who it’s from,” he says. The grass-roots house-building ministry is also reconsidering whether to include key chains, or other small unsolicited gifts, in appeal letters. “We now have a situation where people are nervous about opening a letter that has something in it in addition to a piece of paper,” says Mr. Miles.
Two days before the first piece of mail containing anthrax spores was discovered, World Vision Canada, in the Toronto suburb of Mississauga, included a packet of vegetable seeds in an appeal mailed to 800,000 homes. Even though the backs of the envelopes were clearly marked with the charity’s name, World Vision Canada got calls from donors as well as police in two cities voicing concern about the contents, which made noise when shaken. The calls prompted the Christian international relief group to put an explanation about the appeal’s safety on its Web site.
“We would have stopped the mailing if we knew it was going to cause a lot of anxiety,” says Dave Toycen, the group’s president. “We just had no evidence of that.” The appeal, which has been used for a decade, is the group’s most successful.
While World Vision Canada will reevaluate whether to send seeds in the future, Disabled American Veterans, in Cold Spring, Ky., has no intention of halting its practice of including small gifts, including name labels, in appeals. “We’d give up millions of dollars if we dropped the premiums,” says Max Hart, director of fund raising for the group. “We would be out of business as far as our programs were concerned.” Disabled American Veterans raised $100-million through the mail last year.
The Direct Marketing Association, a trade association for businesses and nonprofit organizations that use the mail extensively to promote products, services, and causes, suggested that groups use colored envelopes because they are less likely to resemble those used in recent anthrax incidents. In addition, the association suggested that organizations use their logos on the return addresses of their envelopes. The association also recommended that groups plan an e-mail or telemarketing campaign in tandem with a mailing, so consumers know to expect a piece of mail.
“The purpose of the guidelines is to give people additional confidence that the vast majority of mail is perfectly safe and to help give them some indications of what characteristics might be prevalent in unsafe mail,” says Lee Cassidy, executive director of the Direct Marketing Association Nonprofit Federation, who added that he does not see any reason for charities to cancel mailings.
Food for the Hungry, in Scottsdale, Ariz., is following the association’s guidelines and taking extra precautions. While the charity always stamps its logo on mailings, the group now plans to add the logo of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, which sets financial standards that Christian charities must meet to become members. Matthew E. Panos, vice president of marketing and development for the Christian international relief charity, says he wants prospective donors to have “no question that this envelope comes from a source that’s trustworthy.”
