I went fishing on vacation.

I walked into a sporting goods store, bought about $500 in tackle, and spent seven days on a massive body of water and caught, well, nothing.

Nada. Nothing. Ougots.

Walking back to my cabin, a nine year old kid walked past me carry a fish that was bigger than me.

He added insult to my injury.

When I got home, the insult and resulting injury continued. 

The stock market was (and still is) in freefall.  A review of the new 2010 Giving USA survey on philanthropic behaviors did not inspire me (I will talk about that in my next post).

And now this:  the United States Postal Service is facing legislation that would eliminate reduced postal rates for non profit mail.

Think about this:

Your cost per 10,000 direct mail packets could increase from$2,100 to $8,500. 

That is a 300% increase in your annual appeal cost basis.

Direct mail, nationally, secures 78 cents of every dollar that is raised in America.  When religious leaders throughout the United States were asked last year which fund raising vehicle outperformed their expectations, direct mail was the only process that performed above expectation.

So, an essential component of many diocesan annual programs, one that has a great deal of vitality, could become much, much, more expensive.

Is there an upside to this possibility?

Well, there may be:

1.  It will compel diocesan development officers to be more selective in the development of their direct mail program.

2.  It will compel many diocesan development directors to abandon massive direct mail campaigns that are of limited value to long lapsed donors

3.  It will compel marketing and development consultants to enhance other giving vehicles such as ”efts.”

If you are interested, here is a link that will provide more detail:

http://www.nonprofitmailers.org/images/uploads/New_Postal_Service_Pricing_Announced.pdf

While you are reading, I am going fishing….