Canada Post Strike Updates: What This Means for Direct Mail
Okay, fellow direct mail fundraisers: there’s postal strike news. December 18th update: Direct mail is back up and running – kind of, mostly.As expected, the CIRB found that Canada Post and CUPW were at an impasse. So, as of 8 AM yesterday, postal workers were back at work, with plans to resume talks with new […]
A Statement from Good Works Regarding the Canada Post Strike
Most people living in Canada have absolutely no idea that Canada Post is vital to our sector and the work we do. For them, the strike is about parcels. For us, it’s about so much more. Charities use the mail. Extensively. Arguably, charities are one of the biggest users of bulk mail through their acquisition […]
Beyond the Big Day: Maximizing the Momentum of Giving Tuesday
The Power of Giving Tuesday What started in 2012 as a modest initiative by the 92nd Street Y in New York City to counteract the consumerism of Black Friday and Cyber Monday has grown into a global movement. By 2013, CanadaHelps brought the campaign to Canada, and today, Giving Tuesday is celebrated in over 90 […]
The 2024 postal strike and your direct mail fundraising program
It’s been a long time (about six years, in fact!) since direct mail fundraisers have had the threat of a Canada Post strike looming over us – at year-end, no less. But here we are! Whether you’ve never had to navigate a mail strike, or you just need a quick refresher, here’s what we might […]
What a Pig and an Elephant can teach you about readability
If you have younger children in your life, you might be familiar with the Elephant and Piggie books. It’s a cute series following the silly antics of a cartoon Elephant named Gerald and a Pig named…Piggie (stay with me). My 8-year-old twin boys can’t get enough of them. And to be honest, I’m a pretty […]
3 Questions to Ask Yourself When You’re Building Your Annual Fundraising Plan
For many of us fundraisers, we’re not far off that magical time of the year: planning season. The time of year when we evaluate this year’s progress and learnings, decide what to stop, start, and continue next year, and develop our all-important budgets and projections. If annual planning isn’t your jam – or you don’t […]
Direct Mail Fundraising in 2024 – What the Benchmarks Tell Us
We know you’ve been patiently waiting, and it’s finally here – the 2024 Canadian Direct Mail Benchmarks Report is now ready for you to download and discover! The Cole’s Notes, you ask? TLDR: This year’s benchmarks are relatively flat, with minor swings up or down for the majority of indicators. Direct mail fundraisers, you’ve weathered the […]
Testing for fundraising campaigns: How to get results you can rely on
If there’s one thing that I’ve learned in my 10+ years working in the charitable sector, it is: You are not your donor. It can be a hard truth, I know! But at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what I like, what you like, or what your CEO likes; it matters what […]
Practical year-end fundraising tips from our office to yours
It’s time: we’re headed into the calendar year-end. If you’re anything like us, the chaos is in full swing! So, let us bring some calm to the chaos. Here are some insights and practical year-end fundraising tips from across our team to make your year-end a little less stressful. Trust your strategic fundraising schedule. You […]
Direct Mail Production: What Will it Cost this Busy Season?
It has been a little while since I last reported on the state of direct mail production. In that time, direct mail has continued to endure a host of challenges: COVID-19, supply chain issues, labour and resource shortages, natural disasters, rising fuel prices, inflation, paper producer strikes, and paper mill closures – to name a […]