A charity’s database is its golden ticket to fundraising success. Donor databases hold a wealth of information including donor details such as name and addresses. These databases are the starting point for preparing direct mail campaigns and other communication pieces such as newsletters. Databases are dynamic and need to be updated on a consistent basis to remain active and current. One key service that we recommend that charities use is the National Change of Address (NCOA).
Each year 1.2 million households file a change of address notification with Canada Post. There will be donors in your database that you do not have their current address or are missing information such as postal code or suite number. This service should be run at least once a year on your entire database. The cost is minimal compared to the benefits of retaining your donors.
Running NCOA on your database helps reduce undeliverable mail. Not only will this help with direct mail campaigns but when sending out tax receipts, membership information or requests that require donor input. Your donors, like yourself, get busy and may forget to update their information with you. This allows you to maintain your database and keep in contact with your donors even after they have moved.
NCOA prevents duplicate mailings, saves money by not mailing invalid or incomplete addresses and reaches your donors faster by receiving updated and correct address information. NCOA also provides return codes for address and demographic statistics based on location. This information is helpful and can be used for donor analysis.
Call us today to schedule this service to be run on your own donor database.
