Quick Tips: Shake up your mailing calendar

A lot of folks use the summer to plan their full calendar of mailings.  Are you still sending two big mailings a year, once in December, to capitalize on the tax year ending, and once in the late Spring, before the summer but a reasonable distance from that holiday mailing?

You've got plenty of company, which may offer some comfort...but a lot of folks in nonprofit management positions (including development) tend to be very risk averse, so "best practices" and "wisdom of the masses" tend to get conflated.

You don't NEED to shake things up.  But you do need to think about whether you're sticking to a particular mailing schedule for the right reasons, rather than comfort with routine.

Here are some ideas that are perfect to toss to your development team for a conversation right about now, mailings that separate themselves from the herd and have worked exceptionally well for others.

• Everyone and their mother will make an ask near the end of the calendar year, to capitalize on the end of the tax year, when a lot of folks make all their philanthropic decisions.  It's very hard to stand out, and the likelihood of your bringing in a lot of new donors is low - you're expecting annual gifts from your known supporters (be they consistent or every other year or two donors).  So...if you can find another way to give those folks a reminder that they need to make their regular gift (could be switching to a cheaper mailing, could be switching to email, could be switching to a phone-a-thon by board members...how many folks are we talking about for you?), you can shift those resources elsewhere.
• October 31.  Halloween.  Trick or Treat.  Unless you count UNICEF, no one is known for their Halloween solicitations.  If you've got a constituency that is likely to have fond memories of trick-or-treating, or is currently enjoying this American pastime with their kids...try designing a mailing around this holiday instead!  Bonus points for creatively utilizing a "free-mium" (like the labels so many folks include in their mailings) - they're reported to be annoying, but they do work, particularly if your base is over 50, and the cute aspect of tying this to Halloween may warm the hearts of your youngest donors too.
• February 14.  Valentine's Day.  A genuinely fun and warm valentine arriving as a surprise is going to stand out in most people's mail, in the very best way.  Connect it to your identity and mission and you're golden.
• Are you a religiously affiliated organization?  Use that to your advantage.  Rosh Hashana has long been used by Jewish organizations for their fall appeal; Christian organizations might think about Easter instead of Christmas; etc.  Guru Purnima works well for academic organizations (though you have to have a way to connect with the cultural/religious implications respectfully).
• Summer.  Most folks avoid summer mailings for very good reasons.  People are on vacation.  Productivity (which impacts things like "remembering to put a check in the mail") goes way down.  Peoples' minds tend to be elsewhere.  But those are general assumptions...are they true for you?  If you have a donor base (or a segment you can reach separately) that is aching for a summer distraction because they're not on vacation or working less even though it's light until 8:30pm, summer is a great time to reach out.  
• Maybe even get away from mailings...hopefully you're doing some regular analysis on how effective your direct mail program is.  There are lots of other ways to reach supporters, there are lots of ways to solicit them.  If you're not satisfied that direct mail is getting the financial return you want, if you aren't retaining donors at great rates, if you aren't acquiring enough new donors to sustain your strategies...don't hold anything sacred, including the notion that you need direct mail.  You might.  But if it's worth re-examining your assumption that the summer is a bad time for a mailing, you should be asking if mailings themselves are still working for you.