Pre-Christmas Charity Appeal Mail Out Warning

New research reveals that the Australian Not for Profit sector will be responsible for about 241,800 direct mail items being sent out in the pre-Christmas Charity Appeal rush to people who have died.

Overall about 1.7 million letters will be sent to dead people in the lead up to Christmas, according to research by Alliance Data Suppression Services (ADSS), which operates The Australian Bereavement Register (TABR).

ADSS said the organisations sending mail to people who have died was not only a complete waste of money, it was extremely distressing and offensive to the bereaved.

ADSS said it would almost certainly affect an organisation’s hard-earned reputation.

“It’s vitally important that fundraisers and direct marketers regularly screen their donor and prospect lists for deceased individuals, especially given the fact that your typical donor database contains a majority of people that are aged 55+ whilst prospect mailing lists are notoriously out of date,” ADSS Managing Director Glenn Harrison said.

“We spend a great deal of our time and effort working with fundraisers, direct marketers and data centre managers in helping them create the very best data practice procedures for their mailing campaign processes.

“The Not for Profit sector is consistently challenged by the need to spend less whilst attracting and maintaining good ongoing relationships with existing supporters to encourage repeat giving.

“Charities in particular are scrutinised for the money they invest in their marketing programs, so it’s essential that all charities apply regular suppression techniques, to ensure accurate targeting and demonstrate a stronger ROI for their DM campaigns.

“It’s simply unacceptable to send marketing information at a time of the year that is going to be particularly upsetting to their remaining relatives when something can be easily done to stop this.”

Click here to download a Fact Sheet about The Australian Bereavement Register.