May receives Hart Award

Larry May received the 2007 Max L. Hart Nonprofit Achievement Award yesterday during the DMANF’s Annual Washington Nonprofit Conference.

The annual award is named for Max Hart, the now-retired longtime Director of Fundraising for Disabled American Veterans. The DMANF uses the award to recognize a steadfast advocate, supporter, and champion of professionalism for the nonprofit fundraising community.

May began his direct marketing career in 1978 as a copywriter at Milton Pierce and Associates. In 1980, he joined Walter Karl, Inc. as a copywriter for the List Management division, Qualified Lists. There he learned about nonprofit fundraising from DMA Hall of Fame honoree, Don Kuhn. During May’s 13 years at Walter Karl, he ultimately became president of the company’s Fundraising division.

In 1991, May joined Direct Media Inc. where he began to build May Development Services (MDS). MDS provides direct mail fundraising services to a variety of non-profit organizations, specializing in health, social service and religious appeals. Last year, MDS helped nonprofits send more than 350 million pieces of fundraising mail, making it the largest list brokerage for nonprofit mailers.

I saw May deliver his acceptance speech. He joked with the audience, but challenged them not to be embarassed at dinner parties when telling people that they design address labels for direct mail fundraising letters.

"Remember," he said. "Every time you send a potential donor a solicitation - you are giving them a chance to be a better person today than they were yesterday."