Learn more about analytics and research best practices, as well as real world examples and solutions for nonprofits.

Optimizing the Demise (Part 4)

Here’s suggestion number 4 on how to optimize the demise…(and if you missed the last 3 suggestions, click here to read more.)

Use telemarketing more. I think the biggest indicator that direct mail is in trouble is that organizations that have always considered TM evil are now starting to embrace it. That’s because it still works.

This idea won’t change the course of the direct mail trend. But it will buy you some time while we are all figuring out the next big thing.

The Privatization of the United State Postal Service

by Bill Jacobs | Mar 26, 2025

The current administration has advocated for the privatization of the USPS. This initiative creates a lot of questions and sends a shiver down the spines of development directors for nonprofits that rely on mail appeals to raise a significant portion of their budgets....

The Ontario Nonprofit Network (ONN) State of the Sector Survey

by Bill Jacobs | Oct 10, 2024

Our neighbors to the north, ONN, released the results of its 2024 State of the Sector Survey today. Over 1,000 nonprofit organizations in Ontario participated in the study. The ONN results sounded familiarly discouraging: Four-in-10 nonprofit organizations responding...

Give your donors a rest from fundraising? It’s going to cost you!

by Bill Jacobs | Jul 9, 2024

This post co-authored by me and long-time friend and former colleague, Jeff Brooks, the most vigilant blogger in fundraising I know. One of most counterintuitive truths about fundraising is this: The more recently a donor gave, the more likely they are to give now....