Choosing the Right Lists

The list hierarchy

1. Donors
These people have contributed money, most likely in response to a direct mail fundraising appeal.

2. Members
They've paid membership dues to an organization, probably by mail.

3. Subscribers
These folks subscribe to a particular periodical. Many first did so in response to a direct mail subscription promotion.

4. Buyers
They've bought books or other goods by mail, in most cases through a catalog they received in the mail.

5. Inquiries and sweepstakes entrants
These are individuals who have responded to an ad or a direct mail package with a request for information or a response to a survey or sweepstakes. They sent in little if any money.

6. Compiled lists
These are second-generation lists, produced by merging lists from different sources. For example, someone might compile a list of people who have joined or written letters of inquiry to many different organizations, perhaps dissimilar ones. Someone else's idea of a useful compiled list might be those individuals whose lifestyle or demographic characteristics – as revealed by such means as auto registrations or property tax rolls – fit a certain predetermined pattern. With rare exceptions, compiled lists do not consist of people whose principal shared characteristic is that they've contributed or spent money by mail.

7. Good ideas
These are the people on your board chair's Rolodex, or a list of your friends or neighbors, or the thousands of individuals to whom you've been sending your newsletter because somebody five years ago was just sure they would take any opportunity to support you. (They haven't, and they probably won't.)

 

Other articles on acquisition:
•How to get started with direct mail (for small organizations)
•Is it OK to take a loss on acquisition mailings?
•What should you test?
•Do label packages work?
•What's the best postage for direct mail letters?
•How to handle donor complaints about duplicate appeals