Joe Kennedy

Joe Kennedy is routinely named the region's best writer by readers of The Roanoker magazine.

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Sue Spangler of Roanoke receives many mailings from charities seeking contributions, and she gets annoyed with the number that include premiums such as address labels and notepads with their solicitations.

"Is this to make us feel guilty?" she asked. "When I make a contribution, I don't expect a gift in return. I do it because I want to or in memory of someone."

She tosses unwanted premiums into the trash.

"They will not force me into making any type of contribution," she said.

She also asked if the premiums are donated to the charities or if the charities pay for them.

"If they have to pay for them, it seems sort of like wasted money," she said.

I suspect a lot of us have discovered free gifts in charity solicitations and felt a twinge of resentment. I don't like the vague sense of obligation that accompanies the little prizes, but it doesn't keep me from using them, particularly the return address labels, whether I contribute money for them or not.

It's not as if I asked for the things.

Inside look

Among the nonprofit groups in Spangler's pile of solicitation letters was the Arthritis Foundation, based in Atlanta.

I called the foundation.

Jim Kaltenbach, the foundation's group vice president for customer relationship marketing, described his organization's use of premiums, both the "front-end" kind that arrived unsolicited and the "back-end" kind that go to people after they contribute money.

"Most folks use labels when it comes to acquisition programs, engaging donors," Kaltenbach said. "We do not use them at a high level."

But, he said, "We do use them to make sure we stay competitive in the marketplace." He likened the tactic to stocking a variety of candy bars in racks by supermarket checkout counters.

"You've got to have Snickers, Butterfingers and Hershey's," he said.

Different strokes

The foundation sends its label-laden solicitations as an inducement for people to contribute. The hope is that the recipients will eventually become members.

Its memberships cost $20 annually. Membership includes the back-end premium of the "award-winning Arthritis Today magazine," Kaltenbach said.

That "periodical to manage the disease" outperforms label offers, he said.

"Some people never go over to wanting to be a member. They stay in the mission parameter."

(Fundraising has a language of its own.)

The foundation tests its premium campaigns before adopting them for wide use, and profit margin plays a major role in the decision.

"We stay competitive with other charities with our cost to raise a dollar," he said.

For the foundation's "donor renewal program," which includes address labels, the cost per dollar of revenue is 28 cents.

This year, the foundation is testing an upfront premium of Christmas cards. Sue Spangler already has received some.

"We tried a calendar in the past," Kaltenbach said, "and it did not prove to be effective, so we're not going to be repeating that."

He said that anyone who dislikes the foundation's appeals can communicate the wish to be removed from various campaigns. It will be honored, Kaltenbach said.

The foundation sends out fundraising appeals monthly, he said, but not all mailings go to all givers. Instead, they are divided among givers according to responsiveness and other factors.

You don't have to delve too deeply into the Internet to learn that fundraising is a sophisticated, competitive activity that is as much art as science.

The Association of Fundraising Professionals site offers tips from Geoff Peters, president of the Creative Direct Response Group in Crofton, Md.

Peters says testing has shown, among other things, that premium donors are usually less difficult to find; that nonpremium donors usually give more on average; that nonpremium mailings usually are cheaper to produce; and that premium donors respond more often to premium letters than "straight" letters without premiums.

It seems to me that the short answer to Spangler's questions is that if the premiums didn't work, the groups wouldn't send them. And if you don't want to get them, tell the senders not to send them. Chances are, they won't.

Joe Kennedy's column appears Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.