Expertly Craft Donor Letters to Maximize Donations: Outsourcing Donor Communications

Raising awareness of your nonprofit cause is always the main goal – strategizing direct mail fundraising efforts and interacting with donors. With your eyes on big picture goals, you may end up not having the bandwidth or resources to tackle the “essential extras” to help facilitate these goals, such as processing donations, sending thank you letters and managing your donor list.

If you’re spending too much time executing large-scale tasks and too little time engaging your donors, you may want to consider an outsourcing partner.  You don’t want to detract from your primary functions, and the additional expertise – especially when it comes to nonprofit communications – can streamline your outreach and increase donations while keeping your data secure.   

Is Outsourcing Right for Your Nonprofit Organization?

Don’t stretch yourself too thin. Think like a rubber band that is about to snap – are you trying to cover too many areas and weakening your approach?

Many nonprofit organizations have limited in-house staff and resources to support the rising demand for their causes… you’re not alone. Outsourcing direct mail fundraising with the right partner can help streamline communications, fill in any missing resources and enhance your overall fundraising efforts. 

A Merkle Response Management Group marketing survey* found that 63 percent of respondents feel nonprofit outsourcing frees staff to focus on core mission objectives while 61 percent said that it reduces processing costs and improves overall efficiency.

Top reasons to outsource essential nonprofit direct mail fundraising activities:

• Add essential expertise
• Free up time to focus on key goals
• Increases your bandwidth and resources
• Be proactive AND respond in a timely manner
• Increase donor retention and satisfaction
• Reduce operational costs

Questions to consider when deciding if your nonprofit can benefit from outsourcing:

• Is the lack of staff keeping you from meeting your core business objectives?
• Are you missing a specific set of skills or resources?
• Are you slow to respond to donors or missing an engagement opportunity?
• Are your efforts disjointed or irregular?
• Can you offer better and more timely service?
• Do you lack “big picture” transparency?

Direct Mail Marketing – Your Fundraising Outsource Partner

With fundraising the primary source of revenue for nonprofit organizations, it’s an ideal area to outsource – playing a front-and-center role to help generate donations and raise awareness while you meet the needs of the community you serve.

When executed as part of a comprehensive nonprofit fundraising strategy, direct mail marketing is an invaluable asset to your fundraising efforts. A well-crafted, personalized donation thank you letter is one of the most important – and memorable – communications your nonprofit can send. In fact, 87 percent of respondents in the aforementioned Merkle survey* cited acknowledging gifts from donors with a personalized letter as an important attribute of service providers. And the targeted list, follow-up and digital integration are just as crucial.  

A strategic direct mail marketing company can help bridge your fundraising efforts – with innovative print and digital solutions that support your end-to-end donor outreach – and fill the gaps of your expertise.  

Most Outsourced Nonprofit Communications:

• Newsletters
• Donation Request Letters
• Advocacy Appeals
• Sponsorship Letters
• Fundraising Letters
• Donor Stewardship
• Donor Thank You Letters
• Multichannel Communications Strategies

Effectively Reach Current and Prospective Donors

• Cultivate the right donor list
• Create a unified donor experience
• Designate fundraising silos
• Utilize personalization
• Engage the right donor at the right time
• Optimize the donor experience
• Nurture your donors

The Importance of Timely Donor Communications

What if your outreach isn’t timely and you miss out on a donation, or you’re distracted with another task and send a thank you letter late causing the donor to withdraw their support?  

Fostering relationships with your donors can have a positive impact on their commitment to your mission and their likelihood to continue to donate.

Sending timely thank-you letters after receiving a donation plays a major role in building strong, lasting relationships. Bottom line: timely and meaningful acknowledgments are hugely essential to donor satisfaction and retention. 

• It affirms that the donor has made a worthwhile investment
• It deepens their connection with your organization
• It sets the stage for ongoing, strategic communications

Outsourcing these essential efforts can improve donation processing speeds and elevate donor satisfaction while also freeing your nonprofit staff to focus on core activities.

The Power of Direct Mail Marketing Automation

Now, what if there was a way to GUARANTEE that your donor-centered communications could go out as planned and on a set schedule – with all of the moving parts perfectly aligned?

That’s where direct mail marketing automation comes in… another potential benefit of outsourcing with the right direct mail partner.

Think of all of those letters and nonprofit mailers you need to send, with varying messages, requirements and inventory needs. As your volume grows and donor needs increase, the manual processing of letters and required outreach becomes more complex, and potentially inefficient.

You can improve and streamline your campaign processes with a cohesive and cost-effective marketing automation platform that combines custom print and digital solutions to help you scale complex direct mail campaigns. Your communications will become automated, accurate, and stress free to manage, so you never miss another fundraising opportunity again.

Security is an Added Bonus of Outsourcing

Security has a role to play in the outsourcing world too. More than four in five respondents in the Merkle survey* said that the ability to secure data was a critical factor when evaluating an outsource vendor. Your outsourcer can help you meet security and compliance requirements – a huge plus for any high-volume donor communications. What to look for:

• SOC 2 certification provides clients in highly-regulated industries with the documentable assurance that their confidential customer data is being handled in accordance with strict industry standards
• Documented and viable Disaster Recovery (DR) and business continuity plans keep production on track, under any circumstances
• Quality standards and protocols

Reap the Rewards of Resource-Enhancing Outsource Solutions

Outsourcing your nonprofit communications allows your organization to focus more staff and resources on core objectives while ensuring timely, efficient outreach that fosters engagement. You’ll never be disjointed or off-schedule – or miss a donation thank you letter again – with streamlined fundraising efforts that reach your donors as intended.

Contact us today at (714) 436-3300 to learn how you can increase donor satisfaction and retention with a forward-thinking outsourced nonprofit direct mail strategy – 100% tailored to your needs.

Sources:

https://www.merkleresponse.com/sites/default/files/resources/downloads/Merkle_Outsourcing_White_Paper.pdf