DRS believes that program success lies in the process of generating, maintaining and upgrading donor relationships.

Before any strategy is set, it is essential that DRS and you, our client, gain a very clear understanding of the demographic and transactional histories of the current individual donors, and where and how they came to support or join the mission.

You clearly understand your organization's needs.

However, as with any successful relationship, the first step in the process of setting successful direct response strategies must be in the identification of donor needs.

To make intelligent recommendations about your direct mail fundraising program, DRS will carefully review the results of previous appeals, packages, creative approaches, and list selections. We will analyze your donor or prospect profiles to be certain that the prospect list selection strategy and creative direction are appropriate and on track.

-- How/where have we been finding new supporters? What characteristics do they share?

-- Why do your donors support you?

-- Among your organization's objectives, which ones are the most supportable?

-- What 's the best time to ask for donor support of this cause?

-- What's the best way to ask? Mail? Phone? Email? In person?

Each segment of your constituent files have different reasons for giving, for upgrading their support, and for downgrading or ceasing to give.

Our job – DRS and you as our client functioning as a single team – is to find out this information and use it to set strategies that generate stronger donor relationships and thus improved returns on investment.

Armed with this information, we can create meaningful new strategies, linked to your metrics. Each goal, every activity, will contribute to measurable results, with the single thrust of improving ROIs wherever and whenever possible.

DRS proposals present clear and actionable ideas which will properly apply and allocate direct mail investments -- and show logical transition to other integrated, cross-channel marketing efforts.

In direct mail fundraising and marketing, we know that past results are signposts to successful future campaigns. We'll use our extensive knowledge, gathered over years of creating and managing programs like yours, to evaluate what works and what doesn't.

Timelines will be established that will allow you to properly campaign for one appeal, or for an entire annual campaign. As the program progresses, we'll monitor each step to ensure that quality is maintained and that deadlines are met.