Renewal check!

Your renewal mail - and accompanying email - is the workhorse of your program. Steady. Reliable. Predictable. Focused on building a habit of annual giving in your supporters.

On a month-to-month basis, your goal is to set it and forget it. However, at least once a year, it's important to put a critical eye to the effort.

First, start with your data. Look at how performance is tracking, overall and by effort. If your response rate or average gift is slipping compared to last year, it may be time to refresh some or all of your series. But be sure you understand your data fully, because some slippage in your mail response could simply be people migrating to online giving. Check that out before you change something that doesn't need to be changed.

Here are a few ways to think about your series:

• Do the letters feel and look like they belong together? Particularly for the donors who don't respond early, your goal is to build on each effort as they continue to receive your appeals month after month.

• Do your letters increase in urgency as the series progresses? You want the beginning to be more inspirational about the organization and practical about the membership ask, and the end to be more urgent about the membership ask and more pointed about the organization and your member's role in it.

• Is your copy fine tuned? Key words, phrases and messaging will naturally evolve at an organization over the course of time. Have your renewals kept up? Do you need to refresh the language either to stay with your organization, or be more compelling to your donors?

• Do you change up signers to build drama and a little difference?

• Does every letter have a powerful P.S. with an additional ask? 

• Are at least one or two of your envelopes slightly different - with a teaser or different color of ink to catch the eye in the mail? 

Renewal mail is an incredibly important element in a successful fundraising program. Take the time to make it work for you. (And don't forget the accompanying e-renewals too!)