Individuals regularly contact BBB Wise Giving Alliance regarding the direct mail they receive from charitable organizations. Some of the inquirers ask why they receive duplicate and multiple appeal letters and also seek advice on how to have their names removed from the mailing lists of the charities sending the appeals. The BBB Wise Giving Alliance (the Alliance) offers the following tips on handling unwanted direct mail from charities and other nonprofit soliciting organizations.
Volume and Duplication
For some potential donors, one of the most vexing problems can be the volume of solicitations received from both familiar and unfamiliar organizations. To compound the matter, the same organization may be sending you multiple and duplicate appeals. If you find yourself in such a situation, you are not alone. Many donors want to know why this is happening and what they can do about it.
How Did I Ever Get So Much Mail?
There are a number of reasons why an individual may receive a high volume of direct mail from nonprofit organizations: the rental and exchange of mailing lists, the number of organizations that use direct mail as a method of raising funds, and the effectiveness of sending appeals to active donors.
When you contribute to a charity or another type of nonprofit organization, your name is added to its "donor" list. You then become more valuable to the charity not only due to your financial support but also because the charity may exchange or rent your name (if it so choose) to other nonprofit organizations interested in sending their appeals to known supporters of charitable endeavors. Also, the charity may rent or exchange your name with catalog companies and other for-profit entities. When you give a charity you have not previously supported, you then increase your changes of receiving mailings from additional organizations.
Thousands of nonprofit organizations, both national and local, use the mail to raise funds. For a national direct mail campaign, a charitable organization may mail from a half million to ten million or more letters. For this purpose, it may have to rent up to 50 lists. It is estimated that there are some 11,000 lists available for direct mail campaigns. Some of these lists will have certain factors in common since an organization is trying to reach a relatively select group of people with common characteristics. This increases the changes of your name appearing more than once on the lists used by the organization, which may result in duplicate appeals.
To add to the possibilities, consider the variations in how an envelope can be addressed: initials with surname, maiden name, separate listings for husband and wife, professional name, misspellings, and office and home addresses. Even if a computer purges a given list for duplicate names, it usually cannot make adjustments for all the multiple and subtle variations which can appear. To the computer, they are often separate entities.
Finally, charities consider established donors as the most likely source for future contributions, and these names will continue to be solicited. It is an irony that some donors find difficult to accept, but fund raisers report that continuous appeals to donors who have already given result in more contributions. The same organization may solicit your support several times in one year.
How Can I Get My Name Off These Lists?
It is unlikely that anyone - the BBB, the Postal Service, you, or your attorney - can have your name removed from all mailing lists. Even if you are successful in eliminating your name from most of the lists you are on today, new lists are constantly being created. Many lists are composed from such basic sources as telephone directories and zip code indexes. However, if you want to take steps to cut down on the amount of fund raising mail you are receiving, here are some points to keep in mind.
- The easiest solution to the problem of unwanted fund raising letters is to decide which charities you want to support and discard the appeals from other groups. Don't feel guilty about not supporting all of the groups writing to you; they do not expect a donation from each and every person they solicit.
- A five dollar contribution to 20 organizations can place you on numerous lists. More focused giving and larger gifts may have a greater effect on the problem or issue that the appeal addresses.
- If more focused giving doesn't reduce the volume, write directly to each organization soliciting you to request that your name be deleted from their mailing list. If you wish to continue supporting a group and receive its solicitations, request that your name not be included on any list that is exchanged or rented.
- If you are writing to an organization either to request name removal or to eliminate duplicate appeals, be sure to send the address label that appears on the outside of the envelope (and/or the return card enclosed with the appeal). If you are receiving duplicate mailings, be sure to send all the labels addressed to you showing all of the variations.
- Most charities use nonprofit postal rates to send you fund raising appeals. Therefore, it does not work to write a note (such as "Delete my name from your mailing list") on the envelope and try to return the letter to the sender. These special postal rates only cover delivery one way - to your home. Unless you add additional postage, the letter will not be returned to the charity, and your name will not be removed from the charity's mailing list.
Can't the Post Office Do Something About This?
The US Postal Service generally cannot help you remove your name from mailing lists. The Postal Service is required by law to deliver all properly addressed and legally mailable matter bearing adequate postage, except in certain cases involving the mailing of sexually oriented materials.
Can Anyone Else Help?
In 1971, the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) began operating a " Mail Preference Service " which, on request, will delete your name from the mailing lists of certain direct mail marketing firms (Mail Preference Service, DMA, PO Box 643, Carmel, NY 10512.) DMA reports some nonprofit organizations also participate in this program and more groups are joining on a regular basis. Please note that DMA can only remove your name from the mailing lists of commercial firms and nonprofit organizations that subscribe to this service.
The BBB Wise Giving Alliance does not encourage or discourage the use of direct mail by nonprofit organizations for fund raising purposes. This is a personal decision for the particular charity or organization involved.
Charitable solicitations are not a one-way street. The solicitation is the first of two steps. The second step is taken by the donor. Some donors approach a charitable contribution in the same spirit as any expenditure: establish priorities, ask questions, and spend wisely. There are no magic answers in resolving the problem of multiple and duplicate solicitations. However, there are reasons to be considered, some steps which can be taken, and a perspective to be gained. Listen to your heart, by all means, but also use your head.
For further assistance, contact the BBB Wise Giving Alliance.
Tips on Handling Unwanted Direct Mail from Charitable Organizations
© 1987, Revised 2006, BBB Wise Giving Alliance