Case Study
Helping a nonprofit solve “endless postal problems”
This is the first email we got from Robin, Two Rivers’ operations director, in mid-October of 2020. With Giving Season approaching, they needed to solve some sticky mail problems fast. A large direct mail agency referred them to Abeja. Here’s what happened next.
BACKGROUND
Two Rivers Habitat for Humanity was created in 2018 by the merging of two affiliates representing the Rochester and Steele-Waseca areas. The merger and rebrand that followed allowed the nonprofit to help more people in the community. But it mightily confused the U.S. Postal Service.
“When we tried to continue with direct mailing campaigns as a new entity, you’d think the post office had never seen that in their lives … We tried to cut through red tape of bulk mailing permits. Abeja finally cut through it.”
— Kevin Worden, Executive Director
Laura visited the combined Two Rivers team in Rochester in late 2021.
A warm Minnesota welcome on a cold day!
KICKOFF
Executive Director Kevin Worden knew that mail could be a solid source of revenue, but he didn’t have a development team to manage it. And he wanted to spend his time securing major gifts. During our kickoff process, we learned that:
Two Rivers had a database of 12,000 people, but only a fraction of these contacts was giving. It was time to re-engage potential donors with personalized mail pieces, and eventually cut bait on any unresponsive records.
The organization also had “endless postal problems,” due to USPS bureacracy and misunderstanding Two Rivers’ needs post merger.
Both issues were costing Two Rivers money that could otherwise help build people affordable homes.
CONTENT
The word “home” took on a larger meaning in 2020 …
The team asked us to weave the idea of “home as a refuge” into two vastly different holiday appeals to reach donors in their East and West service regions. Although this approach was pricier than one appeal, the gut feeling was that “local was everything” to these donors.
We’d test that hypothesis in Spring 2021. See the results below in More Support for Two Rivers.
Story sourcing, copy, and design for the East appeal came together quickly. It told the story of Emily, a single mom who moved her four children from an aging trailer into a new Habitat home — days before Minnesota’s stay-at-home order.
But sourcing for the West story proved difficult. Ken, the Two Rivers communications specialist, called Laura late one night to brainstorm ideas from her couch. Within two days, Laura had a story written a story about Charles, a man with disabilities who needed a custom ramp built to get to his garage. The letter included a “dad joke” lead — perfect for Two Rivers’ male-skewed donor base. Kevin, the executive director, loved it and quipped back:
Q. When does a joke become a Dad joke?
A. When it becomes “apparent.”
Clients with a sense of humor like Kevin are the BEST! Fundraising requires a huge dollop of self-deprecating humor because there are so many things you can’t control. Even when you’re Type A like us.
DATA
It had to be eTapestry!
The database that folks on Nonprofit Happy Hour describe as “clunky,” “prehistoric,” and simply “a horror.” Two Rivers’ staff were unhappy with eTapestry and uncomfortable drafting queries in the system. They planned to switch to what they hoped was a more user-friendly database after Giving Season.
Brianna works in dozens of nonprofit database systems. So it was no trouble for her to dive into eTapestry and draft the data queries for Two Rivers’ mailing.
With an initial mailing list pulled, Brianna provided step-by-step instructions and video-conferenced with Robin, the operations manager, to resolve flagged issues, adjust custom ask strings for each donor, and exclude specific records like major donors from the mailing.
PRODUCTION
The U.S. Postal Service sure doesn’t make it easy for nonprofits to mail.
Two Rivers hadn’t mailed for a while and wasn’t sure if they had nonprofit authorization (NPA), so Robin went to the local post office for help.
Unfortunately, the retail USPS clerks weren’t familiar with nonprofit mail, and they urged Two Rivers to apply for a business reply mail permit (BRM) at a minimum cost of $990 per year.
Unsure how to proceed, Robin asked Abeja for help. Brianna explained all the confusing USPS terminology and acronyms (just a few samples below) and helped Robin apply for an NPA through the Business Customer Gateway (BCG).
Appeal #1 - East
Robin finally received some good news from USPS, right before this piece was ready to mail in late November. Two Rivers already had an NPA that was registered in 1990, and it was connected to the CRID associated with the main Rochester office. That news saved them approximately $1,950 on postage!
Appeal #2 - West
But the good news came with bad news, too. The West mailer was not covered by that NPA, and would have to mail at the bulk mail rate. Luckily, the West letter was going to a smaller audience so it was only a $300 difference.
Brianna successfully coached Robin through the process of adding an alternative mailing address to their NPA in early 2021, saving Two Rivers hundreds of dollars per mailing in the future.
When it came time to get print bids for both appeals, Brianna queried Two Rivers’ local printers and other regional printers we know can do direct mail well. A printer we’ve worked with before in Chanhassen, MN was the winning bid, saving Two Rivers over $3,100 in printing cost.
“Abeja provided excellent direction and leadership regarding both content and logistics, and I know that we couldn't have pushed the holiday mailer out in such a timely manner without your expertise.”
— Kevin Worden, Executive Director
MORE SUPPORT FOR TWO RIVERS HABITAT
After their successful holiday letters, Two Rivers expanded their work with us in 2021 to include full campaigns with custom emails, landing pages, and support for Minnesota’s Give to the Max Day.
With the Giving Season pressure off, and the transition to a user-friendly CRM complete, Two Rivers wanted to focus on optimizing their donor mail strategy. The team wanted to know:
How best to segment their audience? Did segmentation by East and West regions really matter to donors? Was it worth the extra expense? And of the 12,000 people in their database, who should they continue to mail to?
Would email-only contacts in the database become donors if Two Rivers could reach them by mail?
Abeja and Two Rivers suspected segmenting audiences by region wasn’t worth the time and expense, but segmenting by gift recency would. Of course, we tested our gut instinct so we could make data-informed decisions for future campaigns.
We devised a 3x2 test and analyzed the results below. As a result, Two Rivers’ next mailings segmented by recency, not region.
Two Rivers had nearly 1,900 donors and e-newsletter subscribers who they could only reach via email. Knowing that direct mail is at least 75x more effective than email alone and integrated campaigns have a higher response, Two Rivers wanted to add mailing addresses for these donors and warm prospects.
Abeja managed a reverse email append for a modest cost with a data broker. Within days, Two Rivers had 775 new mailing addresses to add to its database!
“Abeja brought a level of discipline and structure to process that we previously lacked. Instead of me having to push, they were pushing/nudging me … and I know that’s going to have a cumulative effect on the organization as we grow.”
— Kevin Worden, Executive Director
Our collaboration with Two Rivers was a success for many reasons.
Among them was the team’s zest for problem solving and improving. Their approvals were fast because they understood that no single mailing is precious.
Instead, each mailer is a chance to test and learn from the donor data it generates — and a chance to remind donors why they are in love with your life-changing mission.