Going Green: Tips to Making Your Mailings More Environmentally-Friendly
By S&W Direct Staff
September 2008

Below are some simple ideas on how to make your mailings more environmentally friendly.

Clean up your mailing list.
Maintain a clean mail file to minimize waste and utilize your best names. Removing bad addresses and duplicate entries from your files saves paper and lowers production and postage costs.

• NCOA your files. The National Change of Address (NCOA) service returns current standardized address information to update your files.
• PCOA your files. The PCOA (Proprietary Change of Address) process runs your files against a database of utility/magazine subscribers and updates files of people who haven’t informed the Post Office of address changes.
• Segment your mailing. By targeting the mailing to your best prospects, you eliminate wasting mail addressed to unresponsive names.

Make conscious paper choices.

• Use paper stock that contains some percentage of recycled materials.
• Consider paper from a certified source. The FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) provides a chain of custody for the paper from the forest to the printer and guarantees that it’s from a responsibly managed forest.
• Ask for electronic proofs. PDFs allow you to cut down on the waste of creating and shipping hardcopy proofs; it also speeds up the review process!

Schultz & Williams is a national consulting firm based in Philadelphia; providing management, fundraising and marketing consulting for nonprofit organizations, along with full-service direct marketing, database and creative/production services.