Stephen Mally Ask, Charity, Fundraising, Fundraising 101, Newsletter, Nonprofit, Reply envelope, Response device

Make an ask in every communication piece

It’s fundraising 101. If you do not ask, you do not receive.

Late last week, I received a newsletter from a Sydney-based hospital. I shouted when I opened it because the hospital foundation failed to make an ask for a donation in the piece. In fact, there was no response device, no letter, and simply a newsletter with a self-addressed response envelope.

Why didn’t this hospital take the time to ask me (and the others who received the newsletter) for a donation? Further, why would the charity include a self-addressed envelope if they were not going to take the time to include a response device to drive donations to your charity?

If it is worth producing the communications piece, it is worth taking the time to ask people for a donation.

Consider the following:

Wrapping a letter around the newsletter offers you a chance to recognise the donor’s past support and to draw their attention to key articles in the newsletter.
Including a response device, pre-populated with the donor’s details, will short cut the guessing game and drive contributions to your nonprofit organisation.
- It will not cost any more postage to mail a response device with a newsletter and a return envelope.
Sending a self-addressed envelope, without a response device, will likely yield far less returns than a charity would receive if a response device was included in the package.

Don’t believe the statements in this blog post? If your organisation currently sends newsletters with no letter and no response device, create a three part test.