I promised to provide very practical advice. Here’s a quick tip that will improve virtually all your written communications: fold your letters so the donor names shows up when they open the envelope.

This simple technique is powerful.

Studies and experience show that if people open an envelope, they’re looking for their name. So let’s make it really easy for them to find. Just about every nonprofit uses mail to fundraise. But I’m shocked by how few charities actually examine their fundraising letters and the “package” they send.

So often, the mail I get doesn’t even have my name! It’s just a “Dear friend” photocopied sheet. But even if it does have my name, it’s amazing how many times it’s folded in a way that makes me work to see it. The classic “c fold” buries my name. Worse, if it’s printed on both sides, I see the back before I see the front.

Presumably, you put the information on the front because it was most important. But that’s not what I see with this fold.

Yuck.

An easy way to overcome all this is the “z fold.” Folding a letter like this allows the donors name to be the first thing she sees. This provides a sense of relief. “Ah, this is for me.” And leads to the question, “I wonder what it’s about.”

I always use a z fold. To be even more practical, I insert the letter so that the address if facing the back of the envelope. Why? Most of us will turn the envelope over when opening it.

Simple. Practical. Effective. Who could ask for more?

After spending two hours of signing and folding pledge reminders today, I thought I’d share with you my love of the “z-fold.”

Well, my intended guest Stephen Nill, founder and CEO of CharityChannel.com was embroiled in nasty network outages that kept him from being on the show.

I guess this was bound to happen with a live radio show!

So I took the unexpected time to wax eloquent on thoughts about “doing the right thing” with our older donors. (At least I hope I was waxing eloquently!)

You can hear the 20-minute show at the fundraising radio show’s home page.

I refer to my three blog posts on septa- and octo-genarians that surprised everyone by giving millions in their estate to charity. The surprise was that they didn’t seem “that” well off. (You can read about the most recent one, James Ebbert, here. That post has links to the other “unassuming” philanthropists.)

Then let me know what you think.

• Do you regularly thank $100 donors?
• Do you have formal ways of getting to know folks that support your organization who were alive around the Great Depression?
• Do you think I’m totally off-base in my recommendations?

Use the “comment” feature here or shoot me an email at marc@fundraisingcoach.com.

[To sign up for the "Ask Without Fear!" announcement list to get news on the fundraising book and about upcoming radio show guests (like when we'll be able to reschedule Steve!), go to: http://fundraisingcoach.com/radio-show/.]

Estimated giving in 2007 grew about 3.9 percent from the previous year according to a recent press release from Giving USA, a group that has measured these statistics for decades.

It appears that Americans gave about $306.39 billion. This in a year that had rising gas prices, housing market chaos, and an awful mortgage crisis! And every charitable subsector examined saw an increase.

So if your organization isn’t seeing the philanthropic support you expected, don’t be too quick to blame the soft economy. Americans tend to be a generous bunch.

To read the entire press release, go to the Giving USA website.

Here’s another story in the growing collection of unassuming people that become noteworthy philanthropists by leaving millions of dollars to charity.

The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports that James Ebbert, the son of a sharecropper, left $10 million to charities in Pennsylvania.

When reporting on this high-school-turned-business-owner:

He lived frugally and invested his money well, says the newspaper. Most people did not know he was wealthy or planned to leave a major bequest, the newspaper says.

You can read the whole story at the Chronicle of Philanthropy.

This adds to the list of people I previously blogged about: a retired librarian who left around $8 million and former secretary that left over $7 million.

To read what this may mean to your nonprofit, check out my Fundraising Secret #12: Don’t be fooled by flashy cars. Or get a copy of The Millionaire Next Door. This book explains the mindset of very smart fiscal conservatism that is exhibited by these unassuming philanthropists that take the nonprofit world by surprise.

And prepare for more of these stories. The people that learned frugal living from the Depression are coming to the end of their life. It’s always right to repect your elders. Now more than ever it may also help fund your cause.

Here’s a great question I got today:

Hi, Marc!

I’ve got a question for you…. Normally, I think it’s best for a third party (read, consultant) to conduct a feasibility study. However, right now we don’t have enough of a donor base to consider a wide-spread campaign (only about 250 donors last year).

I’m considering a self-analysis by sending to our likely campaign donors a list of items (both endowment and capital) with explanation of benefits, etc. I’ll ask the folks to rank them in the order they believe benefits the institution the most. I’ll also ask for a second ranking that indicates the urgency of each project. (Just because something is ranked #2 of 5 doesn’t necessarily mean it’s important/urgent in the eyes of the individual - just less important relative to #1.)

My concern, of course, is this loses the objectivity of a third party conducting the process. But we need to move forward and identify the projects and people that can make some important gifts in the near term. (I will allow anonymity in the response, but we can find ways that help narrow the list - postmark, handwriting, etc.)

What do you think - is it worth the cost of bringing a consultant in, or can this be effective in-house?

Thanks for your thoughts.

Like this questioner, I’m a big fan of getting an outside perspective for campaigns. But let’s face it, it can be hard to justify the cost if you only have a few donors.

Here’s my response:

This sounds like a good alternative.

I’m wondering if mail is the best tool. With a 1% response rate being considered “good”, you’d get a REALLY low rate.

I recommend you set up face-to-face meetings with people. I realize that doesn’t allow it to be anonymous but you’d lose way too much information if you do it only by mail. All the small talk can lead to new prospects.

If you can, I’d pose it as another step in a strategizing process the institution is undertaking. Your head wants to hear from all stake-holder groups as you chart the course for the future, so he’s asked you to undertake this.

Does that makes sense?

If you’re going to go this route, I think it’s imperative to

1. Have the ratings be a face-to-face meeting. Something as simple as this asker outlines might even allow your set-up call to be:
   

   “Good morning Ms. Donor. I’m [blank] from U Prep. We’re in a strategy planning process and Headmaster [blank] asked me to be sure to call you for your input. Would you have 10 minutes for us to get together and go over a brief form?”

   The really hard thing would be making sure you didn’t do the form over the phone. Face-to-face will communicate so much more than communication through the phone.

   That might be the way to handle is, “I’m sure you can appreciate that this process is too important for the future of U Prep for us to do over the phone. Would you have 10-15 minutes for us to get together this afternoon or tomorrow morning?”

   Just do it without being pushy.

2. Make sure the donor’s know that the head of the institution wants their opinion and input into this process, especially if the head isn’t going to be meeting with that person!.

What do you think? Use the comments below to give your advice to this person.

Holly Hall at the Chronicle’s Prospecting Blog reported on comments from the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy’s CEO, Bill McGinley.

The healthcare system is incredibly complex. And hospitals haven’t done a great job telling their story and how they contribute to their local communities.

One of Bill’s recommendations is that hospitals hire more fundraisers. Very sensible! As I wrote about in the article on recession-proof fundraising, cutting funding to fundraising can be a self-fulfilling prophesy of doom.

You can read the Prospecting post at:
http://philanthropy.com/news/prospecting/5018/hospitals-face-growing-list-of-fund-raising-challenges

Elizabeth Schwinn over at Philanthropy.com has a great post about direct mail fundraising.

Studies are showing that boomers are responding at about the same rate as their parents.

Apparently, boomers haven’t gotten the news that direct mail isn’t working.

You can read the post, with a link to the study, at:
http://philanthropy.com/news/prospecting/4987/direct-mail-not-a-dying-fund-raising-method

See for yourself. Yes, he has sold millions of copies. But today, he and I are neck and neck on Amazon!

I just got back from the AMA conference in DC and found this article in the Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems newsletter:

Inland Author Strives for Healthy Communities
Three years ago, Marc Pitman joined Inland Hospital as director of the Inland Foundation. Since he arrived, the Inland Foundation has received gifts of more than a million dollars, donors have grown by 64 percent, and the total dollars raised has grown an incredible 445 percent!

“It’s a tremendous privilege to know your work is making someone’s life better. We’re getting staff and board members involved and it’s exciting for them to know they make a difference,” Marc says. That same philosophy is also found in Marc’s recently published book, Ask Without Fear, which is all about building relationships for a lifetime.

Inland president and CEO, John Dalton, says Marc’s understanding of Waterville and the residents of the region shines through his work. Michael Crowley, president of Healthcare Charities, commented, “Marc’s depth of knowledge and the experience that we have together allows us to help our family, friends, and neighbors have access to the healthcare they need.”

Roger Carr just listed Ask Without Fear! as one of the “Top 7 Reads for Nonprofit Marketers and Fundraisers.”

He’s listed it in an auspicious group! Others on the list include Robin Hood Marketing: Stealing Corporate Savvy to Sell Just Causes and Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die

See the list for yourself at: www.everydaygivingblog.com.