Direct Mail’s Co-Opting of the Nonprofit Sector

Interesting damage-control tactic: Point to how you help charities. And so, facing criticism that its attempts to go green are nowhere near as comprehensive as they should be, the direct-mail industry’s response is to play the nonprofit card:

“Our industry employs quite a few people, generates billions of dollars in revenues for the economy and a huge number of donations for nonprofits,” said Richard E. Bushee III, president of MSP, a direct mailer. “Yes, the guidelines are a bit loose, and yes, we need to put numbers to them soon. But at least we’re showing the world that we’re talking about this, that we think it’s important.”

As the piece, from today’s New York Times, notes, the reason direct mail is so prevalent is that it works. “The return on investment is just too high,” notes one corporate marketing director. That said, should nonprofits, many of which lean green, rethink the abuse of the environment that their direct mail entails? Especially when a very profitable industry is using the sector to justify a greening that many critics feel is merely cosmetic? | 501(c)