Big Campaigns Unveiled by Colleges
Two universities are running capital campaigns to raise more than $1-billion. * Duke University, in Durham, N.C., plans to garner $1.5-billion by December 2002. Duke has raised $684-million for its drive since January 1996. * Washington University, in St. Louis, plans to raise $1-billion by June…
Three Charities Sue Over Name Dispute
Three national health charities have filed a federal lawsuit in California that accuses a Los Angeles man of doing business under names similar to those of the health groups in order to confuse donors. The suit by the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association, and the Arthritis…
Charity Finds That ‘Lift Notes’ Can Drag Down Direct-Mail Returns
Many charities tuck a short note in their appeals to describe a particular program or to reinforce the message of the solicitation. Such “lift notes,” as the inserts are called, are widely thought to help increase the number of people who send in a gift in response to the appeal. But lift notes,…
By Holly Hall
Contributor
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
Family That Stages Annual Christmas Show Gets ‘Points of Light’ Award
Following are the people and organizations that have most recently been named to receive President Clinton’s Daily Points of Light Award. The awards, which are given to those who have done exemplary volunteer work, take their name from President Bush’s description of people who do community service…
Medical-Aid Charity Gets Hilton Award
An international medical-aid organization that sends physician volunteers to provide medical care to victims of war, civil strife, epidemics, or natural disasters in more than 80 countries has received the 1998 Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize. Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres…
By Stephen G. Greene
Contributor