Expert Address Append Services for Nonprofits
Learn how address appends work to help you make up for the lost donations you’ve missed from undelivered appeals.
What is an address append?
Address appends refer to the process of identifying the most recent mailing address for an individual based on existing identifying information you’ve collected, such as their name, phone number, email address, and so on.
While NPOInfo focuses exclusively on employer appends and using those insights to grow your workplace and corporate giving revenue, other providers in the space can help you with address appends.
What is the value of an address append?
Delivering physical correspondence to your supporters is an incredibly efficient marketing strategy. Failing to have the correct mailing address on file will result in undeliverable mail, which wastes your team’s time and resources.
Do you know how much revenue your organization loses each year because fundraising appeals are never delivered? The impact that has goes beyond the lost donation revenue and the cost of postage and printing — it also impacts your mission.
USPS processed 36 million address changes last year. Chances are, some of your supporters moved, resulting in undelivered mail solicitations and lapsed donors.
Are address appends right for your organization?
It’s no surprise that most nonprofits still rely on direct mail. A fundraising appeal in the mail feels like a formal call to action, which resonates with donors.
Before diving into an address append, it’s important to evaluate whether your organization can expect effective results by pinpointing missing and outdated postal addresses.
If you’re unsure whether mailing address appending services will benefit you, ask yourself these questions:
- Does your organization raise money from mail-in donations?
- Do a majority of your donations come from U.S. donors?
- Has your organization run into problems with address format standardization that have impacted your deliverability?
If you answered yes to any of those questions, your organization could benefit.
What are the benefits of mailing address appending services?
Leveraging data appending services empowers you to expand your audience and ensure that you have accurate information for each of your supporters. A trusted expert will have direct access to a database, helping you verify and update mailing addresses quickly.
Here are some of the benefits you can expect from having a clean database filled with the most recent postal addresses for supporters:
Solicitations
Deliverability of fundraising solicitations is the essential first step to securing a donation. Without the appeal even arriving, you’ve lost before you’ve stepped onto the field. Postal appending ensures as many solicitation messages reach supporters as possible.
Targeted Segmentation
Do you want to contact donors in a specific geographic area or in areas that fit other demographic profiles? Those conversations have to begin with accurate address information.
Customized Campaigning
Knowing which of your donors are local helps your organization specifically reach out to those who can impact local politics and missions. Turn to address appending services to identify which constituents can make a difference at the polls or on your local cause.
Personable Outreach
Direct mail is still one of the most impactful ways to connect with supporters. Whether you’re asking for a donation, promoting a volunteer opportunity, or simply sending out your monthly newsletter, direct mail is a reliable channel. In a digital-first world, sending direct mail communicates that your organization took the time to create outreach specifically for the recipient.
Diverse Marketing Methods
The most successful campaigns are comprised of multiple marketing channels. Make sure direct mail is thrown into the mix by using an address append to fill in any missing or outdated postal addresses in your CRM.
Easily-Acquired Information
Asking for mailing information is a standard question to include on landing pages like your donation or volunteer form. Or, if you already have other information about your supporters (such as their name, region, or phone number), you can usually determine their postal address using an address append without reaching out to them again to ask for it.
How do different types of nonprofits use address appends?
Having an accurate postal address on file for each supporter opens the world to a range of benefits for different organizations. Here’s how an address append might impact your specific organization.
Advocacy Groups
Amplifying your advocacy efforts through the right channels can lead to a campaign’s eventual success at the polls. Campaigners for political causes use address appends to identify supporters in the areas that matter to them.
Associations
National associations need to stay in touch with members or risk their membership lapsing. Address appends provide a critical opportunity for associations to get the latest news out to their members and keep them engaged in the organization.
Nonprofits
Direct mail fundraising is a long-standing tradition for nonprofits across industries, from health-related causes to environment, culture, and beyond. A well-crafted fundraising letter can earn its postage and printing costs back with one donation, so use an address append for accurate addresses.
Schools
After students leave an institution, they lose some part of their connection by not regularly visiting campus. Staying in touch via magazines and newsletters after graduation is the only way to ensure the lifelong connections schools and students want.
How do postal appending services work?
If you’re looking to strengthen your CRM’s data, the process is incredibly simple with postal appending services. You simply provide any of your constituents’ information that you do have. Then, the provider will match what you gave them to find an up-to-date postal address.
If your needs focus on growing revenue, we recommend partnering with our team for an employer appending service. This type of append helps directly translate to additional revenue through workplace and corporate giving programs.
