We’ve all had to sort through junk mail – a lot of it goes straight in the recycling and some is put aside for that lazy afternoon when we might want to order pizza, a taxi or a window cleaner. Charities send unsolicited mail too but, for the RNLI, this is not junk mail, it is simply the most cost-effective way to fi nd new supporters and talk to existing ones.

Money is a personal and sensitive topic to mention but the simple fact is that the RNLI is the charity that saves lives at sea, and the lifeboat crews and lifeguards cannot do the saving without your charity.

Many people who receive unsolicited mail from charities worry that the charity is using money on self-promotion that could otherwise be used on its mission. But raising awareness of the RNLI is a happy by-product of mailings. Their main purpose is to raise money – and make money they do. As an example, every £1 spent on the RNLI’s stations and slipways appeal last Summer brought in an astonishing £8.

the journey begins …

It might be hard to believe, but some people are unaware of quite what the RNLI does or how it is funded. They might never have contributed to the charity themselves or only with the occasional bit of cash in a collection box. The RNLI’s Supporter Acquisition team’s role is to make contact with them and begin their ‘supporter journey’.

Adverts and inserts in newspapers and magazines bring in many donations, but sending mailings through the post has proved to be the most cost-effective way of recruiting new supporters.

These mailings can be sorted into two categories: door drops and cold mailings.

to the occupier,

If you’ve received a letter that is not addressed personally to you, you’ve been You don’t ask, you don’t get. Mairéad Dwane delves into the RNLI’s outgoing mail, and asks: ‘Why so many letters?’16close upincluded in a door drop. Door drops are the cheapest way to reach new people, but also the least controllable. The RNLI’s Marketing Manager – Acquisition, Geraldine Cetin explains: ‘Unfortunately it is not possible for us to stop existing supporters of the RNLI receiving this form of letter. This is why we always put a PS with our apologies, asking supporters to pass on the letter to a friend. We are looking at including an explanation on the outside of the envelope too.’

In 2007, door drops alone recruited more than 30,000 new supporters for the RNLI. At the time of writing, the 2008 figure was closer to 43,000. These new supporters, whether they donate a small amount from time to time, sign up for regular giving, or decide to leave a gift in their Will, are the RNLI’s future.

The Royal Mail (UK) and An Post (RoI) have strict guidelines on how many charity mailings can hit a single household in a year so the RNLI must book its slots well in advance. Geraldine’s team targets areas whose residents are thought to fit the profile of those most likely to give to the RNLI. Often the marketing message is regionalised. Mail packs are written and designed by a specialist agency, printed on sustainably sourced paper, and despatched using discounted bulk mailing methods. The more the RNLI sends out at a time, the cheaper delivery is per pack: the average cost of production and delivery is just 12p each.

Dear Mr Smith,

If you’ve received a letter from a charity or company that is addressed to you, but you don’t recall giving the organisation your name and address, you’re probably on a cold mailing list.

To do a cold mailing, the RNLI ‘rents’ a list of names and addresses from another organisation. A name is not added to the RNLI’s own supporter database until the person has made a donation. Lists the RNLI has rented include National Geographic magazine subscribers and people who have signed up for offers from The Daily Telegraph. However the RNLI never passes details of its supporters to other organisations.

The RNLI goes through new lists, removing any known existing supporters, so if you’re already signed up you should not receive any recruitment cold mailings. However, they do sometimes get through. This can happen if a supporter’s name or address is spelled slightly differently, or if they have only very recently signed up. Also, people who support the RNLI through their local fundraising branch, rather than sending donations to Headquarters, might not be on the central database. This is very rare, and the team do everything they can to avoid it.

So which is more effective, a door drop or a cold mailing? Well, in 2008, both activities brought in around 40,000 new supporters each, but there were twice as many door drops sent out. So the more targeted approach of cold mailings means that they perform better, but renting the lists makes them more expensive to produce! The RNLI will continue to use both methods.

Keeping in touch

You’re probably an RNLI member or other regular supporter already. If so, you’re providing a valuable income that can be relied on. Thank you! But you will still get direct mail from the RNLI. In fact, the magazine you’re reading right now is direct mail.

The in-house RNLI Publications and Design team produces the Lifeboat and Compass as a way to keep supporters up to date with what the RNLI is doing with their hard-earned donation. The team is busy all year producing hundreds of other publications to promote and support everything RNLI, from Sea Safety to the Lifeboat College, so cost effectiveness is assured.

Mailings to supporters are managed by the RNLI’s Supporter Communications team. Other mailings that might make it through your mailbox include:

• Lifeboat Lottery tickets – the Lifeboat Lottery is one of the most productive fundraising techniques the RNLI has, raising £5M in 2008 alone. (Find out more on page 38)

• Christmas appeals – traditionally a time for giving, it’s worth asking for an extra donation • administrative letters, such as membership renewal requests

• letters asking supporters who make cash cheque donations to sign up for direct debit instead – predictable regular giving helps the RNLI plan and saves administration costs• letters asking supporters who qualify for Gift Aid but haven’t signed up for it yet to do so – Gift Aid adds 28% to the value of UK donations

• thank you letters – the RNLI acknowledges one-off gifts with thank you letters. If these are not sent out, people start to worry that their donations have not been received. Also, they are not at all expensive to produce, it’s nice to be polite, and every donation is truly appreciated.

Of course, some people will have good reasons not to renew their membership or sign up for Gift Aid, and that’s perfectly understandable, but it makes fi nancial sense to try. As Marketing Campaign Manager John Turner says: ‘We can’t expect everyone to give all the time, but we shouldn’t miss a suitable opportunity to ask.’

legacies

Six out of every 10 lifeboat launches are made possible by gifts left in Wills. House prices and share prices fell in 2008, so the average value of a legacy gift is forecast to fall this year, so it’s more important than ever to promote legacy giving.

The RNLI’s Legacy Marketing team writes to both existing and prospective supporters asking them to consider remembering the RNLI in their Wills. Despite the sensitivity of the subject, these mailings are very successful.

It’s diffi cult to put a precise fi gure on how much these letters generate because of the extremely delicate and unpredictable nature of this form of fundraising. It’s estimated that every year around 650 people decide to leave a gift in their Will and tell their charity of their intention. The size of pledges varies considerably but every penny or cent counts.

check your inbox

As more and more RNLI supporters are going online, email marketing is a growing opportunity. The RNLI does not send unsolicited emails, as the smart surfer does not open, read or respond to emails from unrecognised addresses! Instead, the RNLI’s Emedia team sends emails to supporters who have provided their email address, including those who sign up to receive newsletters online at rnli.org.uk. They include:

• RNLI news – a quarterly enewsletter that rounds up some of the biggest stories from around the RNLI and the subscriber’s region

• RNLI extra – created to be sent at short notice when an important story breaks• RNLI on tv – alerts supporters when the RNLI is going to be featured on an upcoming programme

• virtual gifts mailings – to remind supporters of the RNLI’s range of lifesaving virtual gifts to celebrate special times of year

• events emails – to encourage supporters to take part in big fundraising events, such as the London Marathon, and to thank them afterwards.

Yours sincerely,

It costs an average of £339,000 or €488,000 every day to run the RNLI. Finding this money is a massive job, and the work described here is only part of a complex picture that also includes working with local branches and guilds, schools, companies and charitable trusts and running campaigns like SOS day (see page 13).

Sorting through unsolicited mail can be a chore but it only takes a minute or two. No one knows better than the RNLI’s crews and lifeguards what difference a minute or two can make. So-called ‘junk mail’ gives people the chance to help save lives, wherever they are.