caging

n. the processing of responses to a fund-raising or marketing campaign, especially when concerning money. Subjects: English, Advertising, Jargon

Etymological Note: Perhaps related to a teller’s cage.

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Citations: 1981 Morton Mintz Washington Post (Feb. 7) “Outsider Money Inside a California District” p. A3: The contribution checks went to a Viguerie “caging function” here for processing. Peck protested, charging that Dornan’s campaign was “run out of Falls Church.” Recognizing that “Peck’s got a point,” Steinberg said he had felt that the return envelopes should have been pre-addressed to a Post Office box in the district. He prevailed early this year, and the caging chore was moved to Santa Monica. 1984 Jay Mathews @ Sacramento, Calif. Washington Post (July 3) “‘Booming Enterprise’ New Forces Take Political Initiative”: Computer Caging (caging is the direct-mail industry term for collecting money) had raised money for Gann’s fight to preserve Proposition 13 from a legal counter-attack. 1989 Fund Raising Management (Jan. 1) “How to cut costs on gift processing” vol. 19, no. 11, p. 35: Many people use many terms for this service. Some of them are: lock box operation, cashiering, scanning operation, caging operation, cash management, and OCR operation. 1990 Susan Hovey Folio: the Magazine for Magazine Management (Nov. 1) “Playing It Smart: Going Global Means Finding Readers, Managing Editorial, Delivering The Goods, And Getting Paid In Currency You Can Use” p. 148: Clients saw a 14 percent increase in subscribers in 1988 from use of KLM’s caging/cashiering service, compared to a 3 percent rise in those countries where subscribers had to send a U.S. money order. 1995 Denison Hatch Target Marketing (Oct. 1) “Suspect until proven otherwise” vol. 18, no. 10, p. 66: Caging is the receipt of mail to locked cages where clerks extract and count money. 2003 Assoc. of Fundraising Professionals AFP Fundraising Dictionary (June 9) p. 18: caging, —noun Informal. the process or act of collecting donations by an entityother than the not-for-profit organziation for which they were solicited. 2004 Greg Palast Baltimore Chronicle (Md.) (Nov. 2) “An Election Spoiled Rotten”: The GOP’s announced plan to block 35,000 voters in Ohio ran up against the wrath of federal judges; so, in Florida, what appear to be similar plans had been kept under wraps until the discovery of documents called “caging” lists.

Posted 3 Nov 04 | Permalink | Tell a Friend