Direct mail continues to be the most popular method of charitable giving in Canada, our research again proves.

Almost one in three Canadian adults reports making charitable contributions in the mail in the past 12 months. More than seven million adults sent contributions through the mail last year.

Participation rates in direct mail giving in 2005 are down somewhat from 2003 and 2004 – but it’s too early to call this a trend.

For the past three years, FLA Direct has commissioned Decima Research to measure this country’s direct mail market.

For the 2005 survey, we polled 2,000 Canadian adults by telephone in October. The results of a survey this size are considered accurate +/- 2.2%, 19 times out of 20. This survey accurately represents the Canadian population with respect to age, gender, region, education and income.

Here are the key findings:

1. 29% of respondents reported having made at least one gift in the mail in response to a fundraising appeal they’d received in the mail. When this percentage is overlaid with StatsCan population data, about 7.04 million adults gave through the mail last year. Clearly, direct mail is still a very popular method of giving for many Canadians.
2. Almost half of these donors reported having made one or two gifts through the mail. A third said they’d given through the mail three to five times, and the remainder reported making six or more direct mail gifts last year. We estimate this “frequent giver” group to number just fewer than a million donors.
3. Giving through the mail increases consistently with age. Older donors also give significantly more gifts per year. Donors over the age of 55 are three times as likely to give in the mail as donors between 18 and 34.
4. 30% of English-speaking adults are direct mail donors as opposed to 25% of French-speaking adults. There were no significant differences in giving by region.
5. Not surprisingly, students and the unemployed are least likely to give in the mail, while homemakers and retired people are the most likely.
6. Household income and education levels are not significant determinants of direct mail giving. Giving does increase slightly as incomes and education levels rise, but not so much that you would segment on this basis.
7. People who are widowed or divorced have the highest participation rate in direct mail giving. Single (never married) people have the lowest rate, presumably because they tend to be younger.
8. Households containing one or two people have the highest giving rate. Households containing three or more people give significantly less. We can assume that empty nesters are your best candidates to make direct mail gifts.
9. Of those who did not give in the mail last year, about one in five say they are either very likely or somewhat likely to give through the mail in the future. A large majority of non-mail donors say they are not likely to give through the mail in the future.
10. Significantly fewer people reported making mail gifts in 2005. In both 2003 and 2004, 35% of Canadian adults made direct mail charitable contributions. This percentage fell to 29% in 2005.

There are several possible interpretations to this drop, including:

• Direct mail donors are older, and dying off. The market has begun to shrink.
• The unprecedented year of natural disasters (tsunami, Pakistani earthquake, Hurricane Katrina) saw typical direct mail donors make more immediate online and telephone gifts. They’ll be back next year.
• Donors are fragmenting to the greater variety of giving options available to them. This is a trend.

It’s too soon for anyone to have a definitive answer. Our approach is to continue to measure the market. We’ll tell you what we find next year.

There are still more than seven million Canadians who are writing cheques and going to mailboxes. If you’re mailing, you should stay put.

We don’t know yet whether the direct mail market has begun to shrink. We do know, however, that it’s not growing. That’s why it’s so important to go deep more than wide with your individual giving constituency. We strongly recommend investments in upgrading segments of your donor base to monthly, major and especially legacy giving.

Leverage is the future of direct mail fundraising. Those charities that can "go vertical" with their fundraising pyramids will have the greatest success in the years to come.