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There are some people that can plan things better than others. I have always been someone that can organize, plan, delegate and carry off most type of events from fund raisers involving several hundred individuals to smaller dinner parties. I believe a big part of this is that I love to pay attention to detail. I have always been this way. I notice small details from what is in a room to what a person is wearing to what color eyes people have. I have employed these skills to be rather successful as a corporate event planner as well as a party planner in my personal life.

Since I have been an adult I seem to be the go to person when it comes to birthday party ideas as well as ideas for anniversary and retirement parties. Just instantly my children came to me calling for ideas for presents for dad and I am the one that have to counsel on these issues. In truth whenever I get stressed at work my hubby tells me to cease the trouble of corporate and take up one of the many offers I have got from caterers to be their party planner. I have thought on some of these offers now and again; yet it is tough to give up the security and income that I have from being involved with a big corporation. I enjoy getting involved in various birthday party ideas and other parities, however I am a part of the corporation so I see the on-going effect that my attempts of raising funds has. If I would just plan and arrange diverse birthday party ideas I would not have any on-going feeling of satisfaction that something great was going to happen as a result of my endeavors.

A few months ago my sister ringed me for birthday party ideas for her husband. He was going to be sixty-one. He did not want anything specific for his sixtieth birthday party last year. My sister has never been capable of surprising him despite all the years they have been united. The only thing I suggested her was on the choice of retirement gift

in the past. Now she desired me to help her pull off a surprise party for him. I told her that I would have to consider some different ways that we could pull off a surprise for him. I told her I enjoyed the fact that she was doing this on a year other than one ending in a zero or five because people were more wary during those years. My brother-in-law is quite a practical joker so I knew I would be able to enlist the help of many people to pull of various birthday party ideas. I have given my sister a few different ideas to consider for the event. My best bet will be also to get a great gift for my brother-in-law such as family ski vacation so as to surprise him. Once she gives me her decision I will begin the planning. I am happy that I got a way to put my skills to work.

A direct mail campaign is often the most cost effective way to reach many prospects. Sending letters also is a simple way to campaign. There is no need to recruit, train, manage and motivate a large team. A few talented individuals can run the entire operation. And you will find you will get a lot more volunteers to fold and stuff envelopes than to cold-call potential contributors. That’s not to say all one must do is write a letter, post or e-mail it, and wait for the returns.

What makes mail fundraising campaigns difficult is that they are one-sided. No allowance exists for a campaign worker to personally motivate prospects. The most enthusiastic letter simply cannot match the give-and-take between a skilled advocate and an open-minded potential donor. Lacking aggressive salesmanship, only minimum gifts can be expected, no matter how well written the solicitation letter and enclosures may be.

Here’s another angle to ponder. Assume that I’m a small-gift prospect with some interest in your endeavors. There’s a good chance that I’ll donate generously to your appeal if you knock on my door or phone because your enthusiasm and presentation will be hard to resist. And how many other organisations will solicit me in these ways? Very few. But send me a solicitation letter and you place your request in the midst of enormous competition for my same gift dollar. And because it’s a letter, I have little problem withstanding its impersonal nature. If your organisation is not among my very favorites, you won’t receive a contribution of any consequence.

You see, although I think highly of your cause, I have a table piled high with fundraising letters, from the best known national charities to all sorts of noteworthy school and local groups. I am saturated with mail appeals. After sorting through them and making my top-ranked selections, I find my charitable budget is about depleted. But I still care about your cause, so here’s five dollars to show you my heart’s in the right place.

With these factors as a downside, letter solicitations produce highly profitable income derived from small-gifts for organizations that plan and carry out meticulous programs. However, first-class mailing programs get extremely involved, both creatively and from a marketing standpoint. There are six elements to understand before considering a direct mail campaign:

1. Mail solicitation is an ongoing component of annual fundraising programs. In capital campaigning, letter writing is a tool for wrapping up an appeal and giving thanks.

2. Ongoing mail appeals focus equally on retaining and upgrading present contributors while discovering and cultivating new prospects to make up for donors lost to attrition and to enlarge the donor pool. Present givers won’t always be an available source of funding.

3. Donors via mail don’t come free. Depending on the package, to obtain a new contributor, you can spend from $1.30 to $1.60 (or more) for each initial dollar raised from that person.

4. Mail programs are long-term propositions and instant financial rewards are a rarity.

5. Be clear who you designate as a donor and who you label a prospect. Donors are people currently contributing to your cause. Someone who gave you a gift two years ago or a person who once contributed a painting to your auction are prospects, not donors. Get used to thinking of three distinct groups: current donors, past donor prospects, and new prospects.

6. Some prospects have more interest in and knowledge about an organisation than others. Cultivated potential donors are first approached because they represent the highest rate of return. For instance, a past donor prospect is a better bet to send you a new donation than someone who once came to a special event that you held. The person who came to the special event is more likely to fund you than someone who never heard of your group.

In planning a full scale mail campaign, don’t lose sight of the fundamental fundraising requirements. Make sure your project has compelling goals, high visibility, specific, attractive, and timely needs.

Additionally, make sure your group has start-up funds on hand for what can become a relatively large investment to get the program rolling. For example, depending on the scale of your operation, you might want to engage a letter shop or mail house to provide the many functions necessary to get your direct mail package to recipients. This is an expensive proposition.

Or you might opt to subscribe to an online software provider to help drive your mail program. Since the highest percentage of return comes from current contributors, they are the first group to target. If a goal is reachable by only contacting these people, expenses will be minimal and your problems will be solved. If that’s not realistic, additional prospects who might fund your project would need to be reached. That’s fine so long as you realize that their percentage of return will be far less than supporters.

For instance, you send a letter to current donors and perhaps 40 percent of them respond with donations. A letter sent to brand-new prospects typically yields responses of around 0.5 percent to 2 percent. Until you’ve won over a new potential donor, don’t expect relatively large contributions. A return of 5 percent to 12 percent can be expected from present donors.

If your group, school or club is looking for fundraising ideas and easy fundraisers, have a look at Goldstar Gifts and Stationary’s easy to manage ideas for fundraising.