A small nonprofit serving children recently sent out their first direct mail appeal using a rented list.  Now they want to know if their results are good or not.

In May, they sent out 1492 pieces.  In April, they had been in the local news several times promoting Child Abuse Prevention Month.  So far, they’ve received 1o gifts totalling $322 dollars.  It cost them $427 to send the mailing, and their Board is concerned that they’ve lost money.

Now they’ve asked me how they’ve done.  Here’s what I said:

It sounds like you picked the best possible time to mail.  Good going on that – not everyone puts that much thought into the timing of their mailings.  The publicity before the mailing will help the performance of the mailing.

If you mailed 1492 pieces and got 10 gifts back, that’s a response rate of 0.7%.  1% is average on a mailing like this.  Your average gift size of $32 is about average for small organizations.

Overall, you did fine on this mailing compared to what other nonprofits receive on this kind of mailing.  At first blush, the response can seem dismal- after all, you lost money.  But you gained 10 new donors.  If you can keep those 10 new donors giving for the next three or four years, you will more than make your money back.

Do you have a question about direct mail?  Click on the comment link below and ask.  And don’t forget that my “Secrets of Direct Mail Mentoring Course” starts on Tuesday.  Click here to learn more or to sign up: http://www.getfullyfunded.com/directmailseries.html.