Direct Mail Tops Overall for PBS Fundraising

Public television stations have reversed their decline in acquiring new donors through direct mail campaigns, new research shows. The study, conducted by DMW Direct Fundraising, a direct response advertising agency which supplies fundraising services to public television affiliates nation wide, analyzed data from more than 700 campaigns for 73 stations from 2005 through the end of 2009, representing 34 million pieces mailed.
 

According to their findings, PBS stations in 2009 raised $295.21 per thousand pieces mailed, up 16.3% from 2008, with an average gift of $42.10, up from $41.64. Performance had bottomed out in 2006 with $236.58 per thousand and an average gift of $39.80.

Based on a review of the overall retention rate, the group's findings show that direct mail is the channel that generates public television's most loyal donors.

Re-posted from Print in the Mix.  Sources: The Philanthropy Journal, Public TV direct-mail drives on the upswing, May 12, 2010, and DMW Direct Fundraising, DMW Direct Study Shows Major Turnaround for Public TV Direct Mail Donor Acquisition, April 29, 2010.