United GMG · Education print intelligence
How 35 universities, K–12 schools, and education foundations actually spend on print. Every figure below is invoiced order data — what institutions paid, not an estimate.
Data: United GMG invoiced education orders, Oct 2023–Oct 2025
01 Formats
$755K of invoiced education work across 454 orders and six formats. Three quarters of it is direct mail; no other format reaches 12%.
Share of education revenue by format % of $755K · Oct 2023–Oct 2025
| Format | Orders | Avg order | Median |
|---|---|---|---|
| Direct Mail & Appeals | 116 | $4,901 | $1,753 |
| Brochures & Flyers | 78 | $1,089 | $904 |
| Signage & Displays | 56 | $658 | $279 |
| Event Programs & Invitations | 35 | $927 | $443 |
| Cards & Stationery | 34 | $717 | $352 |
| Posters & Prints | 28 | $307 | $225 |
02 Order sizes
Order-size distribution across all 454 orders. 57% come in under $1,000 — and the revenue concentrates in the mail programs the next section prices out.
Orders by invoice size % of 454 orders
27% of orders fall in the $1K–$2.5K band — regular-cadence newsletters, mailer runs, and event materials. Institutions ordering on that rhythm consistently spend 15–20% less than those buying reactively.
03 Direct mail
$4,901
average education direct mail order — 91% above our non-education average
The volume comes from alumni solicitations, grateful-patient programs, and scholarship appeals, where piece counts run into the tens of thousands.
Elks National Foundation Annual Scholarship Mailing — one order, printed and mailed from our Mount Prospect plant.
04 Velocity
The eight most active education accounts: orders placed, total invoiced, average order, and the average number of days between orders.
| Institution | Orders | Total | Avg order | Reorder cadence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northwestern Univ. Feinberg Major research university · medical school | 77 | $237,807 | $3,088 | Every 9 days |
| Elks National Foundation National education foundation | 31 | $222,761 | $7,186 | Every 20 days |
| Catholic Charities · Archdiocese of Chicago Catholic social services foundation | 63 | $166,267 | $2,639 | Every 12 days |
| Trinity High School Private K–12 school | 36 | $94,144 | $2,615 | Every 19 days |
| AAE Foundation Professional education foundation | 5 | $29,117 | $5,823 | Every 71 days |
| Leukemia Research Foundation Health & education foundation | 7 | $25,877 | $3,697 | Every 78 days |
| Geneva Foundation of Presbyterian Living Senior living education foundation | 16 | $18,168 | $1,136 | Every 40 days |
| McHenry College Community college | 9 | $6,012 | $668 | Every 69 days |
Cadence scale: 0–90 days between orders
of the institutions in this data placed a second order — the highest reorder rate of any vertical we serve.
05 Benchmark
Three programs, three sets of numbers. Take the column that matches your calendar.
Direct mail · alumni · grateful patient
The median appeal in this data runs $1,753; high-volume alumni and grateful-patient programs run $25K–$55K per mailing. If your per-piece cost sits well above these numbers, there is room to move.
Brochures · newsletters · academic-year mailers
Brochures and newsletters run a $904 median. Institutions that batch-order across the academic year spend 15–20% less than those placing one-off orders every few weeks.
Programs · invitations · signage
Event programs and invitations run a $443 median, and the range is wide — $139 to $5,025 — driven by run size and finishing. Volume ordering on a single PO can cut per-unit cost by up to 30%.
About this data. Every figure on this page is drawn from United GMG production invoices for education-sector clients — 454 orders from 35 institutions, October 2023 through October 2025. Shares are percentages of invoiced revenue; averages and medians are per order. No survey answers, no list prices, no estimates.
06 Your numbers
Send the piece, the quantity, and the date it has to be in hand. The quote comes back itemized within 48 hours — put it next to the medians on this page. Printing and mailing from one Mount Prospect plant since 1927.
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