June 2005

Continuing the message
Soliciting gifts by credit card by Susie Fought
What's up online by Dan Weeks

Continuing the message

You probably get at least one of these among your monthly credit card bills. We're talking about a remittance envelope that offers you things you may or may not want to order.

But have you ever considered borrowing that same idea and adding helpful information to your own reply envelope?

Because on most fundraising packages, the back (and back flap) of the BRE is as bare as a baby's . . . well, you get the idea. So why not utilize that valuable — and empty — space to promote your group and its mission?

Well, the smart folks at The Smile Train (New York NY) have made good use of the reply back and, as a result, elevated what's otherwise a pretty average acquisition package.

The Smile Train provides surgery for children in impoverished nations around the world who are born with cleft lips and palates. The BRE's back flap — which covers almost the entire envelope and seals along the bottom — spotlights the group's work with a headline reading, "Give A Child A Second Chance At Life." It's accompanied by "before" and "after" photos of a boy who has benefited from the surgery.

Printed inside the flap, the copy (which fills the entire space) tells prospects what The Smile Train can accomplish with their support. It asks, "Would you like to help a child smile for the first time in his or her life?" And continues, "It could be the most precious gift you'll ever give." It also emphasizes that "100% of your donation goes towards programs — 0% goes towards overhead." Now that's certainly something to tout!

Below the inside flap — that is, the bottom portion of the envelope back — are testimonials from three famous Americans: Walter Cronkite, Candice Bergen, and John Glenn.

This is one BRE that does a lot more than give donors a place to put their check. In fact, it might even be the catalyst that gets them to do just that!

Soliciting gifts by credit card
By Susie Fought

Br. Hugh P. Turley, F.M.S., Co-director of the Marist Brothers (Chicago IL), wrote recently with two questions:

(1) Are nonprofit organizations obligated to include a credit card receipt with acknowledgment letters to donors making credit card gifts?

(2) If the Marist Brothers choose to indicate a $10 minimum gift amount for credit card gifts on its acquisition reply cards, would that elevate, depress, or have no effect on the response rate or size of gifts?

According to Br. Hugh, the Marist Brothers is a Catholic order providing secondary education. The group's 15-year-old development program has a 9,000-name mailing list made up of friends and relatives. The average annual gift is $60 to $70. In solicitations to its housefile, the nonprofit offers a credit card option and later mails a credit card receipt with each acknowledgment. The five-year-old acquisition program has an average gift of just $10 to $15.

Now the charity finds itself in a bind: The acquisition mailings are generating more and more credit card gifts of under $10. This takes a great deal of time for the limited staff to process.

I can imagine!

I assured Br. Hugh his staff isn't obligated to send credit card receipts. Nor must they specify in the acknowledgment that the donor's gift was made with a credit card.

Actually, I believe it's a bad idea to mail credit card receipts. We all know mail can be lost. And, as a donor, I wouldn't like my credit card information floating around out there.

I'm currently signed up as a monthly sustainer with a handful of organizations — and I've authorized automatic monthly debits on my credit card. Two of these organizations send me monthly acknowledgment letters, recognizing the debit amount, processing date, and type of credit card. Both include the credit card receipt. This bothers me. I don't see it as a good use of a nonprofit's limited resources. Most likely, many donors feel the same.

So, how can the Marist Brothers discourage low-dollar gifts by credit card, without depressing the response rate? And, by disallowing these gifts, might the organization actually increase the overall average gift in acquisition?

Here's what I think: If you limit the minimum gift, chances are the $5 donor won't give at all. She won't give because she always gives $5. On top of that, she'll wonder why her $5 isn't good enough for the Marist Brothers, so she'll give elsewhere, where $5 is just fine.

At first, I considered recommending Br. Hugh test the minimum credit card gift against no minimum. Then I realized that what Br. Hugh really wants is fewer credit card gifts for his staff to process. So why not just test the credit card offer?

Chances are, the Marist Brothers can eliminate credit card processing in acquisition without losing prospective donors. At Mal Warwick & Associates, we've tested, tested, and re-tested the credit card offer vs. no credit card.

By and large, offering credit card giving in acquisition depresses response. However, the same isn't true when mailing appeals and renewals to donors on the housefile. It could be that prospects just aren't comfortable providing credit card information through the mail.

Whatever the reason, I suggest Br. Hugh run a test to see if his group actually needs to offer the credit card option in its acquisition mailings. Who knows? Maybe no credit card will even increase response.

What's up online
By Dan Weeks

While reading the Atlantic Monthly several issues ago, I was struck by one of the most powerful graphic images I've ever seen. The story of Emina, a girl near Sarajevo, and how she lost her leg to a landmine, was written in the outline of where her leg should be.

The ad was for Physicians Against Land Mines (PALM) and was created by Leo Burnett, an advertising company in Chicago, for use inside buses and trains, on bus shelters, and in magazines like Atlantic Monthly, Harper's, and People.

PALM is a nongovernmental organization whose mission is to end the death, dismemberment and disability caused by land mines. It's a program of the Center for International Rehabilitation (CIR).

PALM's Web site, at www.banmines.org, is pretty basic. However, a single graphic like this one goes a long way in grabbing people's attention and re-focusing it on this important issue. It sure got my attention.

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