We recently completed a database cleanup and sent the records to a mail house for our first ever annual appeal. We spent extra time tidying the addresses and having all words in the addresses spelled out so as to not seem like just another form letter - St. was changed to Street, NE to Northeast, etc. I triple checked the export before sending to the mail house (and it is correct). Now several employees showed me the mailings they received and the formatting is all wrong. All addresses reverted back to being abbreviated, which is not a huge issue, but we worked extra hard to eliminate this just for the sake of personalization. What IS a huge issue is that the constituent ID number is on the same line as the name (which isn't formatted properly to start with) as follows:

8871 Jane Doe (should have been Ms. Jane Doe with ID number elsewhere on the label)
123 Main St. NE
E. Anytown, USA 12345

Besides being simply frustrated that this could have happened, I wonder if any of you have experience on whether this will make a large difference in our rate of return? Do you find when appeals are addressed in such a manner that your constituents tend to give less, or does it even make a difference? Lori Del Nero
Administrative Assistant
VNA/Hospice of Monroe County
East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania
[Email Removed]

I cannot speak to what rate of return you will get, but from my own personal thoughts, I would be less likely to donate to an organizations that addressed me as a number rather than a person. I don't think the constituent ID number belongs on a label at all... anywhere. Maybe on a donation slip that is pre-printed for them but never on the label. I would see if the Mail House will correct the error or perhaps do another mailing for you later at no fee. They really screwed up. Don't pay full price for it. They owe you a reduced rate at the very least.

We never put a number on our mailing in the first place. But we have come across things being changed in the address line and that is because of the mailing house. I would go over with them on how they did it. They are the ones that really messed up. They should not be changing any of the data that you send to them. They should also be going over with you on the layout.

We actually wanted the ID number to be just on the return slip that gets sent in with the donation, so I'm not sure where they came up with the idea to put it on the label, or where they came up with the idea to change the formatting all together, for that matter. Yes, I agree that they owe us at least a reduced rate (or no charge!). However, I fear that the damage will have already been done to the constituents who received this mailing. Lori Del Nero Administrative Assistant VNA/Hospice of Monroe County East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania [Email Removed]

I would in the future be specific as to how the addresses should appear and if you do not intend them to use it do not include the RE ID in your data file to them. I too learned this from experience. As far as the abbreviations on the address you need to find out from them what their requirements are on CASS Certification. Many times a mailhouse will simply CASS certify all data before they use it and to get certain postage rates the post office requires it. What I hate is a mailhouse who does not warn you they they CASS Certify your data because they do not think it matters. CASS Certification is UGLY and not only abbreviates but also does not have punctuation. In the development world, it matters! For us, we only send to them those we accept CASS Certification on whenever we are using a mailhouse. We send the data the pretty way and they change it. All Major Donor / VIP solicitation mailings we produce in house so we can control the look of the addresses, hand sign, use first class postage stamp, etc. For our newsletter, etc we send everyone to the mailhouse because even a major donor accepts that that is a mass mailing and should be. I don't know for the regular donors any statistics on the return rate if CASS Certified or contains and ID but I am fairly certin that for major donors or potential major donors Relationship Management is important. If they feel they are asked for their generous major gift in part of a giant mass mailing I would think that would not do much to bring you closer to them in a relationship. Melissa S. Graves Manager, Development Database & Direct Mail Planned Parenthood of Connecticut [Email Removed] 203-752-2804 *** Sorry my typing is not what it should be!

Oh, Then I would not include it in the database file that you send them. They automaticly assume that you want that on the mailing piece because it was in the file. USPS has its ways that they like the address to be in order for it to run smoothly throught their machines and the mailing houses have their formates to meet that requirement. I think that it has happen to all of us one time or another.

Lori, It sounds like what the mailhouse did was change your formatting back to the post office's preferred way when they printed the labels. The Post Office publishes standards which I know include many, many abbreviations with no punctuation. We think, as you seem to, that that makes the piece look like a tacky bulk mailing, and we do not use them. However, they are more efficient for the Post Office and may even affect the postage you pay in a bulk mailing by fractions of a cent, so that is what a mailhouse usually uses. When we last had Blackbaud do their free adress analysis for us, a huge portion of our addresses - like 94% or something - were "bad". We finally realized it was because they were using the postal adress standards. Mailhouses are so used to using those standards that they probably just converted your data without even thinking about it and you need to have a little discussion with them to make them aware of what you really want. Tina Wilfer Development Assistant Fox Cities Performing Arts Center Appleton, WI [Email Removed]