Somewhere in your donor file, there’s a group of people that’s been labeled “mail-only.” Nobody tested it, so it just became the rule.

In this episode, I explain why that assumption costs you revenue, especially going into year-end. I share what happened when one of my club clients added email to an established direct mail program. Donors weren’t annoyed, and more gifts came in than mail alone could have produced. I also walk through the latest data from the 2026 M+R Benchmarks, Bloomerang’s Giving Signals report, and NextAfter. Email grew 16%, 69% of donors say email is their preferred channel, and nonprofits raise 30–40% of their online revenue in December alone. If your mail list and your email list barely talk to each other, this one is for you.


Topics:

  • Why mail and email get siloed by accident, and how that accident starts to feel like a rule nobody questioned
  • The real math: for every $1 nonprofits raise online, they raise $0.66 through direct mail. Both channels drive real revenue, and both are growing
  • Why "our audience doesn't respond to email" is almost never a channel problem; it's a content and cadence problem


For a full list of links and resources mentioned in this episode, click here.

It's not too early to start developing a strategy for the end of 2026! Snag Bloomerang's 12 Year-End Fundraising Checklists here. 

Got a fundraising question you want Christina to answer?

Send the campaign problem, donor situation, email question, board issue, or fundraising advice you want a straight answer on. Christina is answering listener questions on upcoming episodes of The Purpose & Profit Club® Podcast.

Submit yours at splendidatl.com/ask

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