Friends of Animals is a nonprofit organization founded in 1957 whose mission is to end animal cruelty and institutionalized exploitation. Our quarterly magazine, Action Line, which was launched in 1985, informs our members about animal advocacy issues and our progress with addressing them. We started binding a donation envelope into the center spread of each issue in 1988 to encourage and enable giving as member support is our lifeline. After reading our stories about how the organization is changing hearts and minds, readers often feel compelled to give — whether that’s to renew their membership, donate to a particular action or victory highlighted in that issue, or purchase our merchandise. The ready envelope makes it easy. In addition to two annual appeal letters and some social media campaigns, these envelopes are our main source of donations.
As we evolve and continue to provide more online content — including The Call, our bi-weekly newsletter — we decided to leverage the same envelope for a secondary purpose. We added a bold, colorful appeal on the first page, asking readers to join our email list. We started this two years ago, changing the bright background color every issue, and have increased our email list substantially. It’s been a great way to utilize this one production spend to achieve yet another objective.
— Nicole Rivard, Editor, Action Line, Friends of Animals
