Mailings addressed to you

The different types of mailing and why you receive them


This section covers all the communications a charity sends to you through the mail, addressed to you personally.

Not all these will ask you for money - some charities also send out newsletters, magazines and annual reports to supporters to keep them in touch with how the charity is doing and what they have achieved with the money that has been donated to them.

You will receive two main types of fundraising mail. Charities that don’t have you listed as a supporter may send you mailings designed to raise awareness of their work and ask you to give to them for the first time.

Charities you have given to in the past may send you mailings to keep you informed about how they are doing, to tell you more about their work, and to ask you to continue or renew your support.

These two types of mailings may look very different. Those designed to ask you to give for the first time are often particularly dramatic, using eye-catching messages and images. The charity is making the assumption that:

  • You know little or nothing about them
  • You are a busy person and any message is going to have to work hard to get your attention

These ‘recruitment’ mailings are also the ones that often include other things like pens, photographs, surveys, address labels or coins – ‘touchy-feely’ items.

They are there to catch your eye, save you time, make you interested enough to open the envelope, or make you feel that you should give the contents of the packs your attention as the charity has obviously made some investment in contacting you.

Mailings sent to people who already give to a charity tend to be much simpler, and often more informative. Some appeals may still be stark or shocking as the charity still feels it has to fight for your attention to an extent – but the tone that is used when an organisation is ‘speaking’ to its supporters is usually more measured.