Alright, so I’m ripping off Sly & the Family Stone with my title. They’d probably be horrified to hear I’m talking about fundraising…

For as long as I can remember, charities have been avoiding doing much direct mail fundraising in the summer months. Rationale: people are away, they are outside, they don’t read their mail, they don’t care because they’re off doing exciting summery things.

Dear readers, I am going to tell you now: that is an urban myth! Non-profits can have successful direct response fundraising ventures in the summer. Sure, they won’t be as strong as something you do in November or December, but that doesn’t mean summer campaigns are not worth doing.

I’ll give you the example of two recent campaigns with great ROIs:

Direct Mail and Digital: Diabetes Summer Surge is a great example. This is an integrated campaign that the team here at Stephen Thomas produced two years ago, which was launched in the summer and ended in September. It raised over $600,000! Visit here to read more.

Direct Mail: One of my clients has a very successful house appeal that drops in early July. It is their best mailing of the year for PAC conversion! In 2010, the ROI was 1.80 – not their best appeal, but certainly turning a healthy profit.

And acquisition? Risky you say? Perhaps, but two examples I’ve seen (one dropping in early August for a children’s charity, the other in late August for a health-related organization) have had very good response. Both exceeded budgeted response and revenue, with response rates close to 3%!

So let it be shouted from the rooftops that the summer isn’t just for fundraising events anymore. Direct mail lives on, no matter what time of the year!

(Ed: Wait a sec Liz, are you sure you want people to know this? Increased competition for donor dollars and all that…)