The Human Rights Campaign shows how today’s nonprofit groups get out their messages — and give back a little, too

Almost any activist group boasts its share of members truly devoted to the cause. But even the most ardent champions for social change need a reason to open up yet another missive from the mother ship.

That’s why a growing number of nonprofit social organizations have been including in their mailers inexpensive but appealing swag meant to entice members to read through membership-renewal notices. One keen advocate of this practice is the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), a Washington, D.C.–based grass-roots force for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) rights. HRC, which boasts more than 725,000 members, includes in its direct mail what has become an iconic bumper sticker in many parts of the country, as well as a set of logo-imprinted address labels.

“The bumper sticker is just part of everything we do — and part of the whole concept of creating visibility and awareness around equality,” says Dane Grams, online strategy director at HRC.

HRC direct mail efforts date back to the 1980s, when its first direct mail package featured a legendary playwright who was gay. Its mailings today center around renewals and new-member prospecting. For 2008, direct mail accounted for more than $1.4 million of the group’s renewal income — or 63 percent of total renewals collected through June 2008.

For more than 10 years now, the organization’s renewal notices have included its popular blue bumper sticker featuring a yellow equal sign. The image has, for many, come to symbolize political progress for the GLBT movement. Today, HRC distributes more than 1 million bumper stickers each year through events, outreach efforts, renewal mailings and acquisition mailings.

But can even ubiquitous bumper stickers and address labels boost membership renewals? Anecdotally, yes, say HRC staffers. In fact, they’re so popular that people now expect them in their renewal envelopes.

As for the branded address labels, HRC tried a new tactic with its second renewal mailing this year to test the effectiveness of including the labels with renewal packages. The organization mailed one version of its direct mail piece with address labels, another version without. Packages with the labels had a slightly better renewal success rate than those without labels — and did well enough to justify the cost of the labels.

HRC relies on a number of different channels to solicit membership renewals — telemarketing, online, direct mail and door-to-door — but direct mail remains the largest channel by far for membership renewals, says Susan Paine, the annual giving director for HRC. Paine believes mail enables HRC to tell a more complete and compelling story than online or telephone, whether it’s sharing information about legislation affecting the GLBT community or personal stories based on the news. “I think that’s why [mail] will always remain relevant for a good portion of our donors,” she says.

Grams attributes part of HRC’s success with direct mail to its consistent branding. Its mail pieces, like its other channel communications, all tie together with the equal-sign logo. More recently, HRC added a thin bar to the bottom of the bumper sticker that says “Member” as well as the membership year, which is designed to make members anticipate the sticker annually.

Grams is happy to report that, in certain parts of the country, anyone driving through a parking lot or traversing a highway just might spot one of HRC’s stickers. “It’s pretty phenomenal,” he says.