Behind the Junk Mail: Judicial Watch Follow-up mailpiece

To be taken off Judicial Watch‘s mailing list email them at info@judicialwatch.org also call them at (888) 593-8442. 

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I didn’t expect to be back so quickly. But Judicial Watch is acting like some thirsty guy at the club. 

This mailpiece is part 2 of my last post. Read about it here.

Judicial Watch (Wiki page) (SourceWatch page) (Charity Navigator page 2 stars) Tom Fitton is in charge.

The holidays are a busy time of year for me, with lots of travel. I do not check my mailbox every day. I didn’t find this mailpiece after the New Year. They wanted me to read it a week after the big mail package from my last post. Both of these mailpieces are for the final fundraising drive of the year. Get your donations in now so that they qualify for your 2019 taxes.

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The mailpiece starts off with a little piece of blue paper:

Dear Judicial Watch Member:
I want to make a special effort to reach out and make sure you received my letter last week because we really need the support of every member right now.

The sheer volume of our Deep State investigation and litigation plus our ongoing work fighting for honest elections and against illegal sanctuary policies are putting a lot of pressure on us. It is especially important now that we meet all of our current budget targets and enter 2020 in a strong financial position.

Your generosity has helped us make an enormous impact for open government and the rule of law …and I hope you can continue to support us today with another special gift.

Thank you so much!
Tom

Follow-up mailpieces are not uncommon. I have seen them before. Generally the first one is big. Think a tote bag, a calendar, Christmas cards. The second one is all “Haaay remember that flashy mail package we sent you? Please send us money.” You can’t blame them for doing this. You have to cut through the noise some how. When your core donor is getting 30+ pieces of junk mail a day, you have to stand out, and remind them to send money. The problems happen when the targeted donor has dementia, and sends a check for both mailpieces. Or if you are Judicial Watch you can flat out ask for “another special gift”

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Main Letter

This entire letter is designed to rile up the reader. It wants people to get mad, and get out their check books.
Phrases like “Deep State” “Trump lynch mob” and mentioning baddies like Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Joe Biden and James Comey, are all upsetting to the target donor.

If anyone can explain the red “COPY” in the margin let me know in the comments. I know it is an old document printing thing. You know it has been photocopied if the “COPY” is in black. Making this letter original. But I don’t know the proper words to look up why you would do this. To me it is another clue that this mailpiece was written for people over 70.

Flip over the page and they are praising the target donor with phrases like “patriots like you” and “committed members”.

I am counting on committed members like you to help with an extra contribution before December 31st.

They also slip in the target donor’s name at one point. A person with dementia will think the mailpiece is talking directly to them. They won’t think about the computer code that inserted a name in that spot for millions of other people.

Time for a P.S.

P.S. Clearly, 2019 has been another landmark year for Judicial Watch. As Congressman Nunes attests, no one can question our effectiveness and the enormous impact we’re making fighting public corruption and unlawful government secrecy. Almost daily, my colleagues and I are asked to appear in Fox News programs and other media print, television and online outlets with important developments about the history we’re making together. Stay tuned, and please let me hear from your right away.

This P.S. is OK. The message on the donation slip below is better. I like that they bring the target donor in closer into the Judicial Watch family by saying “history we’re making together”.

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Note from Congressman Devin Nunes

Today we have very special guest star Congressman Devin Nunes (Wiki page). I am going to assume that Congressman Nunes authorized this use of his name and likeness for this mailpiece. Do I think he wrote this? No. Do I think that Judicial Watch wrote it and a Nunes staffer reviewed, approved it? Yes. “Corrupt cabal” is another phrase that is supposed to get you angry.

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Donation slip

Urgent Year-End Member Reply

Dear Tom:

I am pround to continue to stand with you and Judicial Watch!

I have enclosed a special tax-deductible year-end gift to help Judicial Watch close its 2019 books strong and ready for all the challenges we face in 2020! My best contribution is enclosed for:

[ ]$25 [ ]$40 [ ] $ ____ Other

They have very effectively used the donation slip to drive home the main message of the mailpiece. It piles on the sense of urgency with it’s “Urgent Year-End Member Reply“. And it becomes an extra P.S., by reviewing all the high points of the main letter.

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Should you donate to Judicial Watch? I would say no. Not because of their politics, or that they hang out with a congressman that likes to sue parody Twitter accounts, but because they are terrible at running a charity. Charity Navigator gives them 2 stars. From the 2 mailpieces I have written about lately, you can see how 31.7% of their budget is devoted to fundraising. It should be 25% or under.

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To be taken off Judicial Watch‘s mailing list email them at info@judicialwatch.org also call them at (888) 593-8442. 

Behind the Junk Mail: Judicial Watch

To be taken off Judicial Watch‘s mailing list email them at info@judicialwatch.org also call them at (888) 593-8442. 

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Once a year my mail carrier goes on vacation. The substitute delivers everything that comes to my address. That is how I know that a woman that has been dead for 5 years still gets junk mail. But this is not about her mail. This is about Judicial Watch trying to slime their way into the mailbox of her children. I was told this would happen. Someone in the direct mail industry told me that the junk mail industrial complex would turn their sites to other people at the same address. So here we are with a big flashy mail package from Judicial Watch.

Judicial Watch (Wiki page) (SourceWatch page) (Charity Navigator page 2 stars) was founded in the 1990’s by Larry Klayman and is currently helmed by Tom Fitton. It’s mission is to be a government watch dog by filing Freedom of Information Act requests to keep the government as transparent as possible. Other groups that do the same thing are Muck Rock, and the Sunlight Foundation. Along with filing FOIA requests Judicial Watch likes to make things up. Both the Wikipedia page and the SourceWatch page have sections about false claims made by members of Judicial Watch. Some of the most fanciful rumors spread by Fox News and other right wing media outlets were started by Judicial Watch.

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Main Letter

Right off the top they are talking about a Member Proxy Ballot. We will get to that later. Most of the first page talks about all of their on going projects.

The last paragraph caught my eye:

“And since the Deep State within the Trump administration is stonewalling us just as hard as the Obama administration did over our lawful public records requests, it is also clear that 2020 will be just as challenging a year for us as 2019.”

It is interesting that they are saying something negative about the Trump administration. Did they really think that the guy who won’t release his tax documents was going to just open up the government filling cabinet for them?

This page mentions the Member Proxy Ballot 4 times. Are they worried that their target audience won’t remember it from the top of the letter?

I resently learned that the P.S. is the first part of a begging letter people read all the way through. Let’s check out this letter’s P.S.

P.S. As eager as I am to learn that you’re giving your full support to our current work with your Member Proxy Ballot, I am also counting on your best tax-deductible gift to help us start 2020 in a strong financial position. Please let me hear from you by December 31st! Thank You!

That is a well written P.S. It drives home the importance of the Member Proxy Ballot. Your gift is tax-deductible. And they put on the pressure by asking you return it by December 31st. I got this in the middle of December, that doesn’t leave much time to get it there by the end of the month.

Here is the Member Proxy Ballot that was mentioned at the top of the letter.

YES! I cast my Member Proxy Ballot in favor of Judicial Watch vigorously pressing forward in 2020 with all its current investigations and lawsuits to combat unlawful secrecy, corruption and threats to the constitutional rule of law from Deep State operatives inside and outside government. And be sure to hold corrupt politicians like Hillary Clinton in both political parties accountable for their crimes, keep fighting for honest elections and continue to challenge sanctuary policies from coast to coast!

I also give Judicial Watch my personal approval to launch new investigations and lawsuits as events require and to expand other critical programs.

Check the box, sign and date. The more time you spend reading the letter, the more time you spend interacting with the mailpice, the more likely you are to give, and the more likely you are to give more.

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Verdict

I’m not going to go through each page of Verdict. If you want to see the whole issue I scanned every page and posted it to Flickr. At a glance the photos they use of the people they don’t like, are unflattering. And the photos they use of Tom Fitton make him look like a Dollar Tree version of Rob Lowe.
I want to focus on the ads. I like to joke about who these mailpieces are aimed at. But these ads will put and end to any doubt that this and most the junk mail on this blog is aimed at taking money from the elderly.

Is this an ad for Viagra? No! It wants you to remember in your will.

By remembering Judicial Watch in your will or other estate plans, you could receive important tax benefits while leaving a legacy of freedom for your loved ones and future generations of Americans. Request our brochure, “how to Make a Will that Works”, to help you as you make or update your estate plans.

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How nice REI has elderly people in it’s catalog now. Nope, Judicial Watch wants to suck money directly from your IRA.

Before you make your IRA withdrawals…
…discover how both YOU and JUDICIAL WATCH can benefit from the IRA charitable rollover
ACT NOW!

THE IRA CHARITABLE ROLLOVER IS BACK, AND THIS TIME IT’S PERMANENT! MAKING DONATIONS TO JUDICIAL WATCH DIRECTLY FROM YOUR IRA CAN:

Be an easy and convenient way to make a gift from one of your major assets

Be excluded from your gross income: a tax-free rollover

Count toward your required minimum distribution

For your gift to qualify for benefits under the extension:

You must be 70 1/2 years or older at the time of the gift

The transfer must go directly from your IRA to Judicial Watch

Your total IRA gift(s) cannot exceed $100,000 each year

Your gift must be outright

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This one takes up more than half of the back page

Four Easy Ways
to make a year-end charitable gift

ACT TODAY TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE MANY CHARITABLE WAYS YOU CAN SUPPORT JUDICIAL WATCH.
By carefully planning your charitable gifts – an completing them by December 31 -you may enjoy the satisfaction of fighting government corruption while gaining valuable tax benefits.

1. Cash. Charitable gifts are most often made in the form of checks. They must be postmarked or otherwise delivered by December 31 to qualify for tax deductibility for 2018.

2. Donate online. You can easily make a donation via your credit card by calling our offices, or by going online to www.judicialwatch.org. Our website offers a quick and easy way for you to make a year-end contribution right up until 11:59 p.m. on December 31.

3. Donate appreciated stock. With the stock market recovering value since the beginning of the Great Recession, making gifts of appreciated stocks, bonds or mutual funds could bring extra tax savings, while bypassing capital gains taxes that would be due in the event of a sale. Call our offices to receive more details about donating securities, and to receive our brochure, Giving Securities.

4. Take out a Charitable Gift Annuity. Not only will you receive a tax deduction for 2017, but you will receive income for life by establishing a Charitable Gift Annuity with Judicial Watch. For more information and a complimentary personalized proposal, call our offices.

Most importantly – act now. As the year draws to a close, act now to make certain you have accomplished your charitable goals for 2018.

“By carefully planning your charitable gifts” There is the problem right there. An older person with dementia can no longer carefully plan any more. They will write out checks to groups like Judicial Watch and forget to file the paperwork with their taxes. If they remember to file their taxes at all.

I had never heard of a Charitable Gift Annuity It’s like a reverse mortgage but instead of the bank owning your home it’s Judicial Watch.

All of their ads are so morbid and depressing. Where is the ad for recurring monthly gifts? You would think they would be all over the steady income of sucking money directly from people’s checking accounts every month. Or is a monthly donation not often enough for Judicial Watch? Do they want people to write a check for every mailpiece and email Judicial Watch sends out?

Should you donate to Judicial Watch? I would say no. Not because of their politics or that they use lawsuits as a weapon, but because they are terrible at running a charity. Charity Navigator gives them 2 stars. They get a 74 for Accountability & Transparency. They want the government to be transparent but they can’t do it themselves. The big one I always look at is fundraising expenses. The industry norm is 25%. They are at 31.7%. That is to high. Perhaps they should spend less money sending blind mailpieces to people who’s lives were ruined by junk mail.

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If you liked this be sure to read part 2: Judicial Watch Follow up mailpiece

To be taken off Judicial Watch‘s mailing list email them at info@judicialwatch.org also call them at (888) 593-8442.