Letting the Little Stuff Slide

Tom Ahern's newsletter last week struck a chord with me. He wrote about a fundraiser going toe-to-toe with a board member on indented paragraphs.

Small potatoes, right? So the board member finds indents superfluous -- why not just let that little thing slide in hopes of hanging on to the bigger picture?

Confession: I've done this.

I've let non-fundraisers and non-direct-mail experts dictate small things about our letters and mail in order to expedite the process. Sometimes, it feels like it's just not worth the fight, other times, I'm really, truly not sure that my regular direct mail practices are actually the best way to go.

As I've said here and here, when you're not sure what to do, you should probably test.

So if you can't fight for what you know (or think) is right, then fight to test it. Let a pool of your donors give you the information you and your board member (or boss, or other person who is pushing you) need to make decisions that will make your fundraising efforts the best that they can be.

And really, that's what we all want -- even if that gets lost in arguments about indents: successful fundraising.

The STOP List

I'm a sucker for New Year's Resolutions lists, even though I rarely make them myself. There's something so hopeful about them, as if by simply writing down the things we hope to do, we can make our lives better.

I often wonder, though, if the things we wish we were doing really are the most important to focus on. Perhaps it would be more helpful to make a list of things we're doing that we should strive to STOP doing. So with that in mind, here's my list of bad fundraising habits that you should banish in 2012.

STOP promising the moon.

When the pressure's on, it's hard not to make any promise you can in the hopes that you'll be able to come through. But aiming for the stars when you're traveling in an old jalopy is an exercise in futility.

Make your goals realistic and achievable for where you are right now. Small successes lead to bigger successes. And if you can build on those successes, you'll be able to promise the moon when you can actually deliver it.

STOP playing it safe.

This might seem like the opposite of the above, but I think the two go hand-in-hand. When you're promising more than you can deliver on one project, you're forced to play it safe in other areas to compensate.

The best way to have a successful year is to try new things, reach out to new people, engage new experts, and test, test, test.

STOP wallowing in your mistakes.

We all make mistakes. But dwelling on them doesn't make you better, it makes you more paranoid. Embrace your mistakes, and find the nuggets of wisdom that come from them.

STOP downplaying your successes

Normally, I'm not a fan of those who toot their own horns, since far too often, those who talk about how hard they're working are just that: all talk.

But if you have a successful fundraising event, help craft a winning direct mail package, or convince a donor to give more than she's given in the past, make sure you share those successes with your board, your volunteers and your staff. Hold those triumphs up as examples of what can be done...and challenge your people to beat them.

I'm going to work on these things this year, and I challenge you to develop your own Stop List for 2012.

Testing in a Tight Market

One of the joys of working with a large nonprofit is the ability to test -- from how you visually present your message, to who you choose to mail to, and what special offers you make, when you're mailing for the big guys, you have the chance to really hone in on what works best for your audience. But what if you're a small shop with a small list and a smaller pool of resources to devote to direct mail? How can you test and refine your mailings until you know you're getting the most bang for your buck?

You may not be able to do a split test on any one mailing, but if you're clever and creative, there are still ways you can tell what's working and what's not in your direct mail.

Use Your Swipes

Those of us who work in direct mail are obsessive about checking our own mailboxes because that is one of the best places you can go to get ideas about what's working in today's direct mail.

And I'm not just talking about keeping an eye on the nonprofit organizations you give to. For profit companies -- from banks and financial institutions, to magazines and catalogs -- mail millions of pieces of direct mail each year and have budgets for testing that most nonprofits only dream about. And sure, you might not be able to include a handful of inserts, but can you crib a few ideas about what works from them and apply them to your own packages?

Bonus tip: if you're not on the lists of other organizations in your sector, sign up! A small donation gets you a fine sample of renewals, special appeals and cultivation mailings that can give you a really great picture of what's hot in your niche.

Cheap and Easy Tests

If you can divide your list but don't have a lot of money to spend, there are a few things you can test with little-to-no up front investment.

• Try a lasered upgrade message test on the reply form. You're already lasering donors' names and addresses (and if you're a very small shop, you might be printing everything on your desktop printer!) so it shouldn't cost you much, if anything, to test two different lasered messages.
• Play with color. Too many organizations get stuck in a color rut, which can be great for sending a strong branding message...but might get you ignored in direct mail. Try substituting a different color for black -- dark blue or dark green, maybe. If you absolutely have to limit yourself to approved logo colors, try using them in unique ways -- a graphic band at the top of a page, highlight specific words in the text with color, or use screens to create a layered look.
• Along those same lines, use graphic elements to call attention to your pieces. Give your designer freer reign within the same cost parameters. Bands of color (or black), reversed out headlines, handwriting and other specialty fonts, and color screens don't generally cost any more than more straightforward design, as long as you're not bleeding off the edges or adding colors.

The Long Haul

If you've got a small list but a little money for testing, try testing the same thing over several mailings. That way you can get a more statistically significant pool of results than you can on one small mailing that might include a surprisingly large gift, or have its results impacted by things outside your control.

Bonus tip: if you're testing something on a component that doesn't need to change from one mailing to the next -- say, a colored stock reply envelope -- you can print ahead for the second mailing, which will save you money due to economies of scale.

Bottom line: money's tight for everyone. Even the big organizations are cutting back. But you can still find ways to be innovative and creative and continue testing, even on the most constrained budget.