MAKING THE CASE FOR DM:101


We get it—professional development budgets are tighter than ever, especially in the charitable sector.

Before your charity invests in your professional development and training, they’ll want to understand how it will benefit the larger organization and its goals. What’s the return? How will this investment strengthen fundraising results and enhance program effectiveness?

We know you see the value in taking the course, both to you and your charity—but if you need help making the case to your manager, we’ve got you. We’ve created a customizable template email that you can personalize and pass along to your boss.

Hi Manager's Name,

I’ve been researching ways to strengthen and optimize our direct mail program, and I recently came across a comprehensive, all-in-one course that I believe would be a valuable investment for our team. It’s called DM 101: The Ultimate Guide to Executing a Direct Mail Campaign.

Direct mail continues to be one of our most reliable revenue sources, especially for retaining and upgrading donors. As we’ve discussed, though, it’s becoming more complex and costly to execute effectively. I’m confident we could achieve better results by enhancing our in-house expertise.

The DM 101 course directly addresses the challenges we’ve been facing:
• Our mail results have been [plateauing/decreasing/inconsistent] lately
• We rely heavily on our [agency/vendors] for strategy decisions
• We sometimes lack confidence in our [copy/design/segmentation] choices
• Our costs continue to rise, but we don’t have clear benchmarks for success
• We want to balance effective fundraising tactics with our values of equity and inclusion
• [Insert other specific challenge your organization is facing]

This six-week program is hands-on and practical—not just theory. It covers everything from campaign planning to results measurement, with weekly assignments, real-world frameworks, and templates we can implement immediately. It’s also recognized for 18 CFRE Education points.

By participating in this course, I’ll gain techniques to improve response rates and average gifts, focusing on long-term donor value. The training also covers production workflows, quality control, and vendor management to help us avoid costly mistakes and delays. It will allow us to be better equipped to collaborate with our vendors and designers, and potentially save money by bringing more strategic work in-house.

The course also includes contemporary approaches to ethical storytelling and accessibility—elements our donors increasingly expect. Additionally, I’ll learn strategies to better integrate our mail program with our email, web, and SMS efforts to drive more revenue.

Even a modest improvement in our response rates or average gifts would quickly offset the $1,799 course fee. For example, just a 5% improvement in our gross revenue would generate approximately $[your calculation] in additional revenue annually. What’s more, we'll have the in-house knowledge and skills to design more cost-effective packages and make smarter decisions about our donor segments.

The course begins Friday, April 17 and will require approximately 2-3 hours of my time each week. I'll do my best to incorporate this into my regular workload by [adjusting my schedule/working on it during quieter periods/setting aside specific times].

You can learn more about the program at individualgivingcollective.ca. The registration deadline is Monday, March 30, but spots are limited, so we'll need to make a decision soon to secure a place.

I’d appreciate your thoughts on this opportunity. I’m happy to discuss how it aligns with our current priorities or answer any questions you might have.

Thanks for considering this!

Sincerely,
[Your name]