The Situation

The East Cooper Home Store is home goods nonprofit retailer located in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina. They were looking for a creative way to get more people to donate gently used furniture, surplus building materials and other home goods, so they contacted PostcardMania for help.

The Solution

They decided on a direct mail marketing campaign to ask people in their community to aid their cause.

The East Cooper Home Store’s design included:

  • A  simple subheadline that immediately asks the recipient to donate
  • An offer to pick up their donated items for free
  • A picture of their truck for added legitimacy, emphasizing how easy it is to donate heavy items

A huge contributor to this campaign’s success was their selected mailing list. They purchased a consumer mailing list that targeted homeowners with living in a house worth $750,000 in nearby zip codes. This ensured that every recipient was likely to own unused but quality items they could donate; things like furniture, appliances, home goods, and building materials.

Another contributing factor to their success was their mailing schedule. They mailed to the same list every month for 4 months. If a recipient was thinking of donating and decided against it or forgot, they’d be reminded another 3 times! This consistency definitely contributed to their results.

The Results

Doubled weekly donations!

Doubled weekly donations!

After the last mailing, The East Cooper Home Store went from receiving 6-8 donations a week to getting 12-16! Doubling donations likely means they’ll be able to double their turnover and revenue, which could lead to a doubling of their ultimate nonprofit mission — building more Habitat for Humanity homes in their local community.

CSID: 39358