{
  "id": 2570,
  "title": "How soon after mailing do you know the results?",
  "url": "/competitions/Raising-Money-to-Fund-an-Organizational-Mission/discussion/2570",
  "author_name": "",
  "post_date": "2012-09-04T18:10:40.803Z",
  "votes": null,
  "comment_count": 4,
  "views": 2305,
  "content": "<p>As the title says, say your client comes to you with a list of 10,000 prospects and you whittle it down to 2.500. How much lag is there between mailing those 2,500 and knowing how many of those 2,500 have made a donation. A week,a fortnight, a month or more?</p>",
  "messages": [
    {
      "id": "13894",
      "postDate": "09/04/2012 18:10:40",
      "content": "<p>As the title says, say your client comes to you with a list of 10,000 prospects and you whittle it down to 2.500. How much lag is there between mailing those 2,500 and knowing how many of those 2,500 have made a donation. A week,a fortnight, a month or more?</p>",
      "rawMarkdown": "",
      "votes": null
    },
    {
      "id": "13900",
      "postDate": "09/04/2012 19:08:50",
      "content": "<p>There is some variability in the timing to get the donations back, but it ranges between 2-4 weeks for most, with a long tail beyond that.\r\n</p>",
      "rawMarkdown": "",
      "votes": null
    },
    {
      "id": "13901",
      "postDate": "09/04/2012 19:20:32",
      "content": "<p>[quote=Fundraising;13900]</p>\r\n<p>There is some variability in the timing to get the donations back, but it ranges between 2-4 weeks for most, with a long tail beyond that.</p>\r\n<p>[/quote]</p>\r\n<p>That is great. And sorry for being pedantic, when you say &quot;for most&quot;, do you mean 75%&lt;or some %&gt; of the total donations would have been made within 4 weeks of mailing?</p>",
      "rawMarkdown": "",
      "votes": null
    },
    {
      "id": "13902",
      "postDate": "09/04/2012 19:47:40",
      "content": "<p>Let me make sure I cover this right, since 75% is also the percentage we're targeting on our model cutoff. When predicting the top 75% of prospective donors, obviously those donations will come in with donations from the bottom 25% (just to avoid ambiguity\r\n on what we're talking about). </p>\r\n<p>For the timing of all 100% of those donations to come in, it varies widely. Most of the mailings are sent at non-profit rates. The only thing the USPS will tell you about the timing of delivery is that it will take 4-21 days. So, plenty of uncertainty there.\r\n Then, the mail may sit in somebody's house for a period of time before they send a donation.</p>\r\n<p>A rough rule of thumb is that 50% of the total donations will show up within 21-24 days of the mailing. Roughly 70-75% show up in the first four weeks. And the &quot;last&quot; one may literally take six months to arrive - so a very long tail on the donation arrival.\r\n</p>\r\n<p>Hope that helps. Even though this rule of thumb provides a guideline, there can be significant variation from one mailing to the next. If that's not quite clear please don't hesitate to continue to clarify. Thanks!</p>",
      "rawMarkdown": "",
      "votes": null
    },
    {
      "id": "13903",
      "postDate": "09/04/2012 20:01:07",
      "content": "<p>[quote=Fundraising;13902]</p>\r\n<p>Let me make sure I cover this right, since 75% is also the percentage we're targeting on our model cutoff. When predicting the top 75% of prospective donors, obviously those donations will come in with donations from the bottom 25% (just to avoid ambiguity\r\n on what we're talking about).</p>\r\n<p>For the timing of all 100% of those donations to come in, it varies widely. Most of the mailings are sent at non-profit rates. The only thing the USPS will tell you about the timing of delivery is that it will take 4-21 days. So, plenty of uncertainty there.\r\n Then, the mail may sit in somebody's house for a period of time before they send a donation.</p>\r\n<p>A rough rule of thumb is that 50% of the total donations will show up within 21-24 days of the mailing. Roughly 70-75% show up in the first four weeks. And the &quot;last&quot; one may literally take six months to arrive - so a very long tail on the donation arrival.</p>\r\n<p>Hope that helps. Even though this rule of thumb provides a guideline, there can be significant variation from one mailing to the next. If that's not quite clear please don't hesitate to continue to clarify. Thanks!</p>\r\n<p>[/quote]</p>\r\n<p>&nbsp;</p>\r\n<p>Thanks for the clarification.</p>",
      "rawMarkdown": "",
      "votes": null
    }
  ],
  "comments": [
    {
      "id": 13900,
      "author_name": "fundraising",
      "author_url": "",
      "post_date": "09/04/2012 19:08:50",
      "content": "<p>There is some variability in the timing to get the donations back, but it ranges between 2-4 weeks for most, with a long tail beyond that.\r\n</p>",
      "votes": null,
      "replies": []
    },
    {
      "id": 13901,
      "author_name": "sashikanthdareddy",
      "author_url": "",
      "post_date": "09/04/2012 19:20:32",
      "content": "<p>[quote=Fundraising;13900]</p>\r\n<p>There is some variability in the timing to get the donations back, but it ranges between 2-4 weeks for most, with a long tail beyond that.</p>\r\n<p>[/quote]</p>\r\n<p>That is great. And sorry for being pedantic, when you say &quot;for most&quot;, do you mean 75%&lt;or some %&gt; of the total donations would have been made within 4 weeks of mailing?</p>",
      "votes": null,
      "replies": []
    },
    {
      "id": 13902,
      "author_name": "fundraising",
      "author_url": "",
      "post_date": "09/04/2012 19:47:40",
      "content": "<p>Let me make sure I cover this right, since 75% is also the percentage we're targeting on our model cutoff. When predicting the top 75% of prospective donors, obviously those donations will come in with donations from the bottom 25% (just to avoid ambiguity\r\n on what we're talking about). </p>\r\n<p>For the timing of all 100% of those donations to come in, it varies widely. Most of the mailings are sent at non-profit rates. The only thing the USPS will tell you about the timing of delivery is that it will take 4-21 days. So, plenty of uncertainty there.\r\n Then, the mail may sit in somebody's house for a period of time before they send a donation.</p>\r\n<p>A rough rule of thumb is that 50% of the total donations will show up within 21-24 days of the mailing. Roughly 70-75% show up in the first four weeks. And the &quot;last&quot; one may literally take six months to arrive - so a very long tail on the donation arrival.\r\n</p>\r\n<p>Hope that helps. Even though this rule of thumb provides a guideline, there can be significant variation from one mailing to the next. If that's not quite clear please don't hesitate to continue to clarify. Thanks!</p>",
      "votes": null,
      "replies": []
    },
    {
      "id": 13903,
      "author_name": "sashikanthdareddy",
      "author_url": "",
      "post_date": "09/04/2012 20:01:07",
      "content": "<p>[quote=Fundraising;13902]</p>\r\n<p>Let me make sure I cover this right, since 75% is also the percentage we're targeting on our model cutoff. When predicting the top 75% of prospective donors, obviously those donations will come in with donations from the bottom 25% (just to avoid ambiguity\r\n on what we're talking about).</p>\r\n<p>For the timing of all 100% of those donations to come in, it varies widely. Most of the mailings are sent at non-profit rates. The only thing the USPS will tell you about the timing of delivery is that it will take 4-21 days. So, plenty of uncertainty there.\r\n Then, the mail may sit in somebody's house for a period of time before they send a donation.</p>\r\n<p>A rough rule of thumb is that 50% of the total donations will show up within 21-24 days of the mailing. Roughly 70-75% show up in the first four weeks. And the &quot;last&quot; one may literally take six months to arrive - so a very long tail on the donation arrival.</p>\r\n<p>Hope that helps. Even though this rule of thumb provides a guideline, there can be significant variation from one mailing to the next. If that's not quite clear please don't hesitate to continue to clarify. Thanks!</p>\r\n<p>[/quote]</p>\r\n<p>&nbsp;</p>\r\n<p>Thanks for the clarification.</p>",
      "votes": null,
      "replies": []
    }
  ],
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