Let's consider what the budget for the fund raising campaign might be.
Here's a reasonable article:
What kind of response rates do your direct mail fundraising letters generate?
That’s the most common question I’m asked by potential clients. And it’s a good question, since non-profit organizations need the highest response rates they can get in today’s competitive environment. Direct mail is an expensive way to raise funds if your response rates are low and your average gift is small.
So what’s an acceptable response rate? That depends on the kind of mailing we’re talking about.
Acquisition mailings (designed to acquire new donors) typically generate low response rates. An acceptable response rate with an acquisition mailing is somewhere between 0.5 percent and 2.5 percent. A response rate of only half of one percent might not sound adequate to you, but it’s acceptable if your costs are low or your average gift is high.
Remember that generating a high response rate in an acquisition mailing is more important than receiving a high average gift, since the whole point of an acquisition mailing is to acquire donors. The higher your response rate, the more donors you acquire. And the more donors you acquire, the more donors you can appeal to in coming months, leading to higher revenue over time.
Renewal mailings (designed to obtain gifts from existing donors) typically generate higher response rates. An acceptable response rate with a renewal mailing is somewhere between 5 percent and 35 percent. Response rates for renewal mailings are higher than rates for acquisition mailings because the recipients already know you, trust you and have given to you before.
Suppose they expect that 2.5% response rate, and budget for about that many returned pieces of mail.
They're already spending first class postage, plus somewhere between 1 cent and 8 cents per piece to send the original solicitation, at 40 times their expected return cost.
BRM rates are 38 cents for the first ounce, 17 cents for the second, plus that 1 to 8 cents.
So let's guess a fraction of an ounce, for 38 cents postage, plus 1 cent per letter fee, and it costs them a nickel to produce every one of 10,000 pieces in a mailing. 44 cents * 10K = $4400. They expect 2.5% return -- 250, for another 110 dollars. Suppose they budget that $4610 plus $390 for contingencies (about 8.5%). We would need 889 extra responses to run them over their budget by $1 - exclusive of any actual donations they receive to offset costs. (In this guesstimate, 250 $20 donations is break-even.)
Just send the card or envelope back - that's the maximum cost for them relative to the minimum effort for us. It doesn't violate any laws, doesn't require finding innocuous materials to include, doesn't need any plotting or pre-planning, and doesn't waste your time.
ETA: Of course, if this is
entertainment for you, we have to add in that benefit to the process of making these campaigns more expensive for the solicitors. Far be it from me to discourage anyone's hobby!
