Did You Have June Elections?

This May felt like a relentless assault of political messaging. At one point, I really wished I had kept all of the print content I received for the sake of this article. I got daily text messages and I unsubscribed from every. single. one. There were signs. Everywhere. Yards. Busy intersections. Randomly in my alley. (?!?!?!?) 

It was a lot.

And while I would never suggest that a nonprofit operate their fundraising like a political campaign, I do believe there is a HUGE learning opportunity here. 

Namely: Multi-channel marketing. Which includes (gasp!) print. 

Yes, print.

The Email Graveyard

Here's the reality: the average person receives 121 emails a day (according to Email List Verify). 

Let that sink in. One hundred twenty-one.

Your donors are drowning in email. They have over 1,000 unread messages sitting in their inbox right now. According to data from All About Cookies, 77% of people say digital clutter negatively impacts their life. They're frustrated, overwhelmed, and tuning out.

So what do most nonprofits do? They send more email.

Why? Because they see it as “free” or cheaper than other options. So, they optimize subject lines, they segment their lists, they try to be clever. 

And sure, some of that helps. Segmented emails do drive more opens. Personalization does increase engagement. But they're still competing in a space where your donor is already drowning.

Why Print Still Cuts Through

Political campaigns figured this out decades ago. They don't just email you. They text you. They mail you a piece. They put up a sign on your street. They hit you on social media. They knock on your door.

Each channel serves a purpose. 

Email reaches you instantly but gets lost in the noise. A text is more personal and direct. A printed piece sits on your kitchen counter—it's physical, it's hard to ignore, it interrupts the digital scroll. Yard signs become part of your environment. They all work together.

Print, specifically, does something email can't do: it breaks through the digital clutter by not being digital. 

Your donor opens their mailbox expecting bills and catalogs. A well-designed direct mail piece from your nonprofit stands out. 

It's tactile. It's intentional. It says, "We thought about you enough to send you something that took real effort."

What Nonprofits Could Learn from Political Campaigns

Political campaigns understand integrated marketing. They're not betting everything on one channel. They're hitting you from multiple angles because they know that frequency + variety = results.

You should be doing the same thing.

Imagine your donor journey this way: They discover you through a digital ad or social media. They receive a welcome email sequence when they sign up for your digital newsletter. They get a printed newsletter in the mail. You follow up with a personal email about a specific program they care about. You send a direct mail piece about a giving opportunity. You ask them to a virtual event. You send them a year-end appeal, both digital and printed. 

Each touchpoint reinforces your mission, each channel serves a different purpose, and the cumulative effect is that your nonprofit becomes part of their world.

This isn't random noise. This is strategic saturation.

It Works Across the Board

Whether you're trying to acquire new donors, retain current ones, steward major gifts, or encourage someone to make a planned gift—this multi-channel approach works.

New donors respond to frequency and visibility. Sustaining donors appreciate the touchpoints that make them feel seen and valued. Major donors need both personal connection and the reinforcement that comes from seeing your organization everywhere—in their mailbox, in their email, at events, in their community. Planned giving prospects? They need to understand that your organization is stable, growing, and thinking strategically about the future—and that message lands harder when they're hearing it through multiple channels over time.

It's not about doing more. It's about doing it smarter—with intention, with integration, with the understanding that one email will get lost, but one email plus one mailer plus one event plus one personal phone call? That creates momentum.

Here's What Happens When You Get This Right

Your donors feel connected because they're hearing from you consistently. Your message is reinforced across channels so they actually remember what you do and why it matters. Your nonprofit stands out in a crowded nonprofit landscape because you're not just another email in their inbox. And your fundraising actually grows because you're reaching people where they are—not just where they check email, but where they live their lives.

Political campaigns know this. They get it. They don't apologize for reaching you through multiple channels because they understand that saturation works. Your nonprofit should too.

Ready to build a multi-channel strategy that actually reaches your donors? Let's talk about what this could look like for your organization.