PostcardMania

Yes. Direct mail continues to generate significant fundraising revenue for nonprofits. According to M+R Benchmarks 2026, nonprofit direct mail revenue increased 9% in 2025, and the average direct mail gift was $120.

Direct mail can be especially valuable because it creates a physical touchpoint with supporters while also encouraging online action. Many donors who receive a mail appeal ultimately visit a website or use another digital channel to respond.

Direct mail often initiates an online donation. Nearly half of donors who respond to a mailed appeal visit the nonprofit’s website to give, so the mailbox can serve as a powerful first step in a digital giving journey. Including a clear URL or QR code makes that transition easy.

Nonprofits can use direct mail for:

• Donor acquisition campaigns
• Fundraising and year-end appeals
• Giving Tuesday campaigns
• Donor renewals and reactivation
• Monthly-giving promotions
• Thank-you and stewardship messages
• Impact updates and annual reports
• Event invitations
• Membership renewals
• Volunteer recruitment
• Program or service awareness

Yes. PostcardMania can manage design, list preparation, printing, addressing, postal processing and mailing, giving your team one source for the complete campaign.

Yes. DonorPerfect allows you to segment constituent records based on information such as giving history, donor status, location, interests, campaign participation, and other data points. Those targeted lists can then be used to create more relevant direct mail campaigns through PostcardMania. A PostcardMania representative can confirm the required fields and appropriate data-transfer process for your campaign.

Yes. Depending on the campaign and format selected, mail pieces can incorporate donor information such as names, giving history, membership status or other relevant fields. Personalization can help make an appeal feel more relevant to each recipient.

Use campaign-specific codes, reply devices, QR codes, URLs or phone numbers to identify responses. PostcardMania offers tracking options that will help you track your campaign from within their easy-to-use performance dashboard. Donations can then be attributed to the appropriate campaign in DonorPerfect, allowing you to monitor response rate, average gift, cost per dollar raised, donor retention and return on investment.

Qualifying nonprofit organizations may be eligible for special USPS nonprofit mailing rates, which can significantly reduce postage costs. Eligibility and mailing requirements vary, so PostcardMania can help nonprofits understand their mailing options and prepare campaigns correctly.

Postcards work well for concise, visually engaging messages, reminders, event promotions and campaigns designed to drive donors online. Letters provide more room for storytelling, detailed appeals and reply forms. PostcardMania can recommend a format based on your audience, message and campaign goal.

The right schedule depends on your donor base, campaign calendar and past performance. Many organizations use direct mail throughout the year for appeals, stewardship and key giving periods, then adjust frequency by tracking response and donor feedback.

What matters is consistency and measurement. In M+R’s 2026 nonprofit benchmarks, organizations sent active donors about 15 mailings per year on average, compared with 8 for lapsed donors and 6 for non-donor prospects. Your own donor response data should ultimately guide your schedule.

The strongest strategy usually isn’t either/or. Direct mail and digital channels serve different purposes and can reinforce one another.

In fact, M+R Benchmarks 2026 found that nonprofits raised an average of $0.66 through direct mail for every $1 they raised online. A supporter may receive a physical appeal, scan a QR code, visit the nonprofit’s website, see an email later, and ultimately make a gift online. Coordinating those touchpoints helps your organization stay visible while giving donors the freedom to respond through the channel they prefer.