Center For NonProfit Success

Direct mail fundraising

Do pledge drives represent the bulk of your fundraising efforts? It’s time to consider more effective, more affordable direct mail campaigns. Done correctly, a direct mail campaign can be your most cost-effective and productive fundraising tool. On the other hand, if you miss the mark, your direct mail campaign could flounder or even hurt your reputation amongst your target donors. You need to develop a long-term plan for your direct mail campaign that can help you attract donors, retain donors and build relationships.

Topics we will cover include:

Mastering the what, where and how of direct mail
Integrating direct mail with your annual campaign
Using direct mail to grow your donor base and increase the size of average gifts
The value of direct mail in identifying and cultivating major donors on your mailing list

This session will ground you in the fundamentals of direct mail fundraising and give you a solid plan as well as usable tools to develop your own comprehensive direct mail program. It is intended for fundraisers of all levels.

Speakers for this session:

Deborah Crawley

Director of Development & Communications

Millionair Club Charity

For over 25 years, Deborah has been working in direct marketing & communication for a diverse group of non-proftis. From one of the most respected cancer-research centers, to a nationally respected prevention education organization that lead the country in social entrepreneurialism to most recently at the Millionair Club Charity in Seattle, the state`s second oldest charity, providing direct services to the low-income and working homeless in our area. Her budgets for direct marketing have ranged from next to nothing to $100,000 campaigns. She has worked with some of the top ad agencies and art agencies in our region and also been a one person shop responsible for low-cost single page direct mail campaigns. She`ll share her strategies for making sure that whatever your budget or whatever the size of the organization, direct fundraising can still be engaging, targetted and profitable

Helen Sernett

Assistant Director for Annual Giving

Seattle University

For seven years, Helen Kathryn Sernett has worked in non-profit development. In her current role as Assistant Director for Annual Giving at Seattle University, she manages direct mail solicitations to alumni, parents, friends and employees. Beyond academic fundraising, Helen has worked for social service and healthcare charities managing philanthropic projects, events, and always soliciting through direct mail for annual (and some restricted) funds. She earned a certificate in Fundraising Management from the University of Washington, and has begun the work necessary for CFRE credentialing. She is currently a member of CASE and has been a member of NDOA.

Seattle Fundraising Summit

A relationship approach to fundraising
Nonprofit fundraising has become highly specialized, and each segment of your donor market requires a different set of relationship management skills. Whether you are reaching out to private foundations, wealthy individuals or your own members, you need to understand who they give to, and why. The Seattle Summit focuses on the relationship aspects of fundraising, and offers you several ways to enhance your relationship management skills:

Day One:
In the morning, listen to a panel of private, corporate and community grantmakers who will openly discuss their philosophy on grantmaking, how they operate, and most important, how you can build a more successful relationship with the grantmaking community. In the afternoon, participate in seminars led by experienced grant seekers who have successfully secured many foundation grants, and have built successful relationships with the grantmaking community.

Day Two:
Attend a series of fundraising seminars covering the hottest areas of fundraising (capital campaigns, major gifts, annual giving campaigns, and many more). Panels of experts will discuss the latest developments in these fields, and then enter into a dialogue with the participants that addresses their most pressing questions.

WHY ATTEND THE FUNDRAISING SUMMIT?
Fundraising is primarily a relationship business, and with increasing pressures facing all nonprofit professionals to build key relationships, it is becoming more important, though much more difficult to meet people face-to-face. Our innovative Summit format provides the most efficient and cost effective use of time away from the office by enabling attendees to interact with experts in the field, as well as other nonprofit leaders.

CAN ONE ATTEND SPECIFIC SESSIONS ONLY?
We understand the demands that are placed on you and on your time. That’s why you can attend only the seminars that are of interest to you. Come for the day or stop by for a couple of hours. You pay for only the seminars you wish to attend and only for the information relevant to you. It’s a novel approach to learning that allows you to get exactly what you’re looking for in a short amount of time. In 2009, we are also introducing a two-day pass so that attendees can attend all sessions at a reduced price.

WHAT IS THE FORMAT OF THE SEMINARS?
Each seminar features a panel of 3-4 experts who will give a short overview of the key developments in that field. After that , we will move into a moderated discussion to explore what these developments mean for nonprofit organizations. During the seminar, panelists will engage with the audience in an interactive manner to ensure the real-world implications of these developments emerge, and the session will end with a summary of practical next steps.

ONE-ON-ONE MENTORING SESSIONS
In 2009, we are adding an exciting new component to our Summits: one on mentoring sessions. In these 30 minute sessions, you can sit down with an experienced nonprofit fundraiser to discuss specific questions not addressed by the seminars. Mentoring sessions will cover the same topics as the seminar topics.

HOW IS THE SUMMIT DIFFERENT FROM OTHER EDUCATIONAL EVENTS?
The Summit offers a unique format to help you accomplish the following:

Build relationships: to ensure maximum exposure to the experts and other nonprofit leaders, each seminar offers structured networking before the session starts
Hear different perspectives: the experts are drawn from different sectors of the nonprofit community to ensure cross-pollination of ideas and practices
Provide a global view: speakers give an overview of key issues so that you can eliminate any gaps in your understanding of the subject
Drill down to the specifics: speakers will also focus on providing specific answers to real-world questions that are common to most attendees
Obtain information you can use: the emphasis in all sessions is on avoiding theoretical discussions in favor of practical tools and techniques that nonprofit leaders can actually use

WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE SUMMIT?
The Summit is organized by the Center for Nonprofit Success, a nonprofit organization that specializes in bringing highly relevant information that nonprofit leaders need to run their organizations successfully. We developed the Fundraising Summit series as a follow-on to the Nonprofit Success Forum, a highly successful educational series on grantmaking that has been taking place around the country for the past two years. The Fundraising Summit drills down into specific areas of fundraising to give nonproft leaders cutting edge tools and techniques.

HOW DO I REGISTER FOR THE SUMMIT?
Simply click on the seminars listed below to learn more about the topics that will be covered in each seminar. Then select only those seminars that you wish to attend.

Location/Directions

Location

The Summit will take place on the University of Washington Campus, in the Husky Union Building (HUB). The full address is:

University of Washington
Husky Union Building (HUB), 2nd floor

113 Husky Union Building

Seattle, WA 98195

Driving Directions

Traveling from South of the UW (including Sea-Tac Airport)

From I-5 north
Drive northbound on I-5 (do not use the express lanes)
Take the NE 45th Street exit (#169).
Turn right onto NE 45th Street.
Continue east about one quarter mile to 15th Avenue NE and turn right.
Head south on 15th Avenue three blocks to NE 41st Street.
Turn left at Gate #1 into the Central Plaza Garage.
Stop at the gatehouse inside the garage. The Traffic Guide will assign the parking area within the Central Plaza Garage depending on the space availability. Purchase a parking permit. Cost is $15.00

Traveling from North of the UW
From I-5 southbound
Drive southbound on I-5.
Take the NE 45th Street exit (#169).
Turn left onto NE 45th Street.
Continue east about one quarter mile to 15th Avenue NE and turn right.
Head south on 15th Avenue three blocks to NE 41st Street. Turn left at Gate #1 into the Central Plaza Garage.
Stop at the gatehouse inside the garage. The Traffic Guide will assign the parking area within the Central Plaza Garage depending on the space availability. Purchase a parking permit. Cost is $15.00

Traveling from East of the UW
From SR-520 westbound
Take the Montlake Blvd NE exit and turn right.
Continue north on Montlake Blvd. and cross the drawbridge.
At the first traffic light after the bridge, turn left onto NE Pacific Street.
Pass under 2 bridges.
Turn right on 15th Ave NE.
At NE 41st Street, turn right at Gate #1 into the Central Plaza Garage.
Stop at the gatehouse inside the garage. The Traffic Guide will assign the parking area within the Central Plaza Garage depending on the space availability. Purchase a parking permit. Cost is $15.00

Parking near the Husky Union Building (10 minute walk)
Visitor parking is available at the Central Plaza Garage located off 15th Ave NE and NE 41st Street. It is behind the Allen Center for the Visual Arts and the Odegaard Library. The Traffic Guide will assign the parking area within the Central Plaza Garage depending on the space availability. Take the Elevator by Kane Hall (NE corner of garage) down to ground level. Once you exit the garage, follow the pathways past the Suzzalo Library and Allen Library Building across the HUB yard to the Student Union Building (HUB) which will be straight ahead past the Libraries. Give yourselves an extra 30 minutes to find parking and walk to the HUB.

All visitors must stop at Gate #1 to purchase a parking permit. They have a pay as you enter system. The cost is $15 and there is a sliding refund scale.
Stop at the gate on your way out, and they will refund you back part of the $15 depending on the length of time that you parked.
They accept cash, Visa, and Mastercard.
The Central Plaza Garage has 1000 parking spaces.

Disability Parking near the Husky Union Building
Disability parking is available in the N22 parking lot next to the HUB/Student Activities Building on Stevens Way. You need a parking pass designated N22 to park in this lot.

Directions to the N22 Disability parking lot:

From I-5 North or South
From I-5, take the NE 45th Street exit and head east on NE 45th Street.
Continue east about one quarter mile to 15th Avenue NE and turn right.
Head south on 15th Avenue five blocks to NE 40st Street. Turn left at Gate #5.
Stop at the gatehouse and please say the following to the Traffic Guide at the Gate, “I need a Disability/mobility accommodation in the N22 lot.”
Purchase a parking permit. Cost is $15.00
You need a parking pass designated N22 to park in this lot.
Continue on Stevens Way which curves around. You will see the Husky Stadium off to the right.
The Student Union Building (HUB) will be on your left.
N22 lot is just past the HUB on your left.

From SR-520
From SR-520, Take the Montlake Blvd NE exit and turn right.
Continue north on Montlake Blvd. and cross the drawbridge.
Pass under 3 bridges.
Turn right on 15th Ave NE.
Turn left at NE 44th Place. It becomes Pend Oreille Road.
Stop at the Gatehouse #3 and please say the following to the Traffic Guide at the Gate, “I need a Disability/mobility accommodation in the N22 lot.”
Purchase a parking permit. Cost is $15.00
You need a parking pass designated N22 to park in this lot.
Turn left at Stevens Way.
N22 lot will be on your right before the Student Union Building (HUB)

Public Transportation

The following bus routes have stops at the HUB:

Metro All Day Routes: 31, 65, 67, 68, 75, 372
Metro Peak Hour Routes: 205, 272, 277, 373
Community Transit Routes: 810, 812, 821, 851, 855, 860, 870, 871, 880, 885

Additional Bus Route Resources

Metro Bus Services - 206-553-3000
Metro Trip Planner to the HUB
Metro Bus Tracker (specific to the HUB)
Metro Transit website

Community Transit - 425-353-7433
Community Transit Trip Planner to the UW
Community Transit Bus Tracker (specific to the UW)
Community Transit website

Hotels
Most hotels near the Summit venue are within the $144 - $209 per night range. The following hotels are within a three-mile radius of the venue:

Residence Inn by Marriott Seattle Downtown                    BOOK NOW         2.3 miles from venue
Courtyard by Marriott Seattle Downtown Lake Union        BOOK NOW         2.3 miles from venue
Comfort Suites Seattle                                                       BOOK NOW         2.6 miles from venue
SpringHill Suites by Marriott Seattle Downtown                 BOOK NOW         2.7 miles from venue
Holiday Inn Express Seattle-City Center                            BOOK NOW         2.8 miles from venue

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Additional Bus Route Resources

The event sponsors include:

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One-on-one mentoring

Click on any seminar title or the arrow on the right side to learn more about that seminar

Full Summit Pass - What is this?

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