Multi-channel Fundraising, and maximizing donor engagement

Who Am I?

Mike Johnston

Founder, hjc,

Integrated Fundraising Specialist, Aerobics Instructor, Game Player,

and Sports Fanatic

• At the end of the session, we’ll ask you to go online and fill out our integration survey. We’ll select 1 WINNER to receive complimentary 1-hour multi-channel, best practice, consulting session

• http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/5RNDHZ2

• We’ll pick the winner from those who complete the survey!

Take our online, integration survey at the end of the session!

Examples without a theory or a hypothesis is like…

“Best practice fundraising creates results (statistics) that prove that fundraising integration of more channels and more areas of fundraising and non-fundraising – is indeed, best practice.”

1) The NeedWhat is driving changes in how we fundraise?

2) The ValueWhat’s the value of being integrated?

3) Self-AssessmentWhere are you as an organization?

4) SolutionHow do you align culture, staff, and technology?

5) Evidence – Put It All TogetherWhat does best practice integration look like?

1) Nonprofit offline donors are aging around the world

2) Donor files and acquisition list sources are shrinking

3) Revenues are flat and–in many cases–are falling

4) Fundraising costs are increasing/ fundraising margins are shrinking

Nonprofits need (younger) more valuable donors in many parts of the world

The Need

The Value

The Value: Qualitative

Increasingly Multi-Channel Behavior% Who Agree, Appropriate Solicitation Channel

GEN Y GEN X BOOMER MATURE

MAIL 77% 79% 74% 77%

EMAIL 76% 69% 60% 51%

SOCIAL MEDIA 69% 60% 38% 17%

PHONE 51% 42% 39% 34%

TEXT 38% 25% 16% 13%

Source: Next Generation of Canadian and American Giving

Best Practice

• The Brady Campaign started with 38,000 email addresses

– 16,000 were Brady members

– 22,000 were non-donor activists

Rapidly Growing An Email File• Launched branded

campaign and microsite NRAblacklist.com supported by a print ad campaign

• The site had a visitor to “signer” conversion rate of 40%

• Grew email list from 38,000 to 101,257 in under 3 months

Sustaining EngagementGrowth of NRAblacklist.com was followed by urgent federal legislative battles

Started a new branded campaign: stoptheNRA.com

An online advocacy effort by the Brady Campaign grew their email file from 40K to140K. The vast majority were new prospects.

Multi-Channel: Acquisition – Best Practice

0.37%; $46 avg. gift

Email Solicitation

1.26%; $24 avg. gift

Direct Mail Solicitation

21%; $27 avg. gift

Phone Solicitation

Best Practice Takeaways…• Don’t Wait! Integrate online non donors into

online, direct mail, and telephone conversion as soon as you have enough for a good test. Remember: younger donors ACCEPT more channels for solicitation!

• Flanker Brand Campaigns. Need constant campaigns (like NRAblacklist.com) to grow your online non donor list.

• Petitions. Build campaigns around online petitions so that you get full address.

Best Practice: Integration Increases Multi-Channel Loyalty and Value

Retention Rate2Annual Donor Value1

Sources: 1. total contributions over 12 month period, excluding $10k+ gifts for SPCA of Texas2. Ibid. Comparison of retention rates for multi-year donors, SPCA of Texas

82.3%

70.1%62.3%

$102.64

$191.35

$255.74

Multi-Channel Grows Revenue: Spanish Best Practice

• Campaign subject: Safiya Hussaini

– Condemned to brutal execution by neighbors

• Campaign goals: Amnesty Spain wanted signatures and money to stop the execution (fixed date)

• Strategy: Build an emotional/powerful campaign to save her

• Integrate channels

BannersPublicity

Letters to leadersNews Coverage

Email MarketingLetters to university students

Letters to leadersNews coverage

PublicityNews coverage

Face to FaceE-mail

TV

Internet

Radio

Press

amnistiaporsafiya.org

letters

Call center

17/19Amnesty International Spain

World Class Best Practice: Integrated Marketing Strategy

• AI Spain sent a stone with a letter to the opinion leaders

• This was distributed in the university

18/19Amnesty International Spain

Direct Mail

• Collected approximately 300,000 “warm” emails through viral marketing campaign

• Sent out approximately 240,000 emails in a test: half text only email/half HTML email

Online Marketing

• 1,022 monthly donors, giving an annualized income over 130,000 Euros

• 688 single donors giving an average gift of 50 Euros

• HTML had a 50% better response than the text only email

Online Appeal Results

• Well darn, that worked well! Let’s do it again!

• Collected 220,000 more warm emails and sent out an HTML version of the same email from two month prior. The results:

– 1,478 monthly donors, giving an annualized income over 160,000 Euros

– 977 single donors giving an average gift of 44 Euros

Continued Online Marketing

Overall Results• Safiya was saved

• 1,170,535 petitions were delivered to the Nigerian Embassy.

• Spanish goverment communicated directly with Nigerian authorities on this case

• AI Spain found 5,000 new members – both monthly and single gift donors through an integrated fundraising and marketing approach!

• What could have been better or has changed since then? What channels? What areas of fundraising?

16/19Amnesty International Spain

Self-Assessment to be Best Practice

Where Are You in the Multi-Channel Evolution?

Where are You?

• Online Marketing Makes Minimal Contribution

• Calendar-Based Campaigning

• Not Financially Committed to Second Channel

• Thematically Integrated

• Coordinated Appeals

• Integrated Calendar

• Shared Metrics

• More Stuff, More Channels

Coordinated IntegratedSilos

• Separate Metrics & Team for Online Marketing

• No Calendar / Campaign Coordination

• Online Constitutes 5-25% Direct Response Revenue

• Unified Strategy & Full Integration Across Channel Managers

• Measures Success Across Channels, Not By Channel

• Seamlessly Integrates New Media

• Shared success, budget and goals

Single

Which Type of Organization Are You?

Type A

Tension Behavior Outcome

Fear BlamingBurnout, Detachment

Anxiety Self-interestStagnation, Isolation

Political Downgrading

Type B

Tension Behavior Outcome

Innovation Cooperation Achieve Goals

Creativity TeamworkShared Success

Productive Rewards

Source: Mark Climie-Elliott, HJC Senior Consultant, “Turning Point” Webinar, April 15, 2010.

• “1” = Type A, “5” = Type B

• Where do you fall on the scale?

On A Scale of 1-5…

Multi-Channel Sophistication Not Correlated with Org Size (or country!)

“ANYTHING is possible, but NOT EVERYTHING is possible.”

• Two factors that have the greatest impact on advancing integrated marketing & communications:

– An organization’s / leadership’s commitment to the philosophy

– Investing in the mechanics to make it happen

• Absence of these becomes a real barrier to integration.

Solution

• Getting people to change – to become best practice

• To create change – you need a process.

• System

• Input

• Challenge

• Three drivers of change for a more integrated organization:

• People

• Knowledge

• Technology

Where to Begin? Release the Fear.

Shared Reality

• Your organization as it is today:

– How you see it – your reality

– How others see it – their reality

– No right or wrong – simply respected observations

• Collectively, this becomes your “shared” reality.

Reality is something you rise above.Liza Minelli

• Shift ahead & articulate a shared vision or desired state of what you want (or think) your fundraising will look like in 3-5 years

• Can be applied to any time frame

• Short-, Mid-, Long-Term

Shared Future

The Camembert

All the rest: Online 1%; Legacy 2%; Major 3%; Corporate 4%; Government and Foundations 3%

The Camembert

All the rest: Online 25%; Legacy 12%; Major 3%; Corporate 8%; Government and Foundation 3%

• Draw your fundraising pie charts:

A Quick Exercise

NOW 2021

Integration of all LEVELS of giving

Legacies, Large Gifts and smaller gifts..

Second Step-Today you are helping Greenpeace to

have a better Planet for the future generations

Would you like to keep on helping Greenpeace in the

future?

With your legacy you can donate a part or all your possessions to keep on

helping Greenpeace If you want more information

please contact Alberto.

• Online

• Focus Groups

• Events

• Telephone

• Visits

• Direct Mail

• A ‘symphony’ of channels…

Face to Face, mail, phone, online

• Dozens of legacies

• Hundreds of individuals who WANT a visit!

• Millions of dollars in potential gifts that were uncovered through an integrated fundraising approach

Integrated Survey: Best Practice• The cultivation survey:

– Sent to 57,400 donors

– 3 key segments: Monthly, Active & Lapsed

– 5,530 responses (response rate of 11%)

– Raised $17,574 – a bonus!

– Reactivated 30 donors

– Found 85 expectances and 292 legacy leads and 143 middle and major donor leads!

– Key: shared budgeting!

The goals of the survey1. Collect personal preferences of donors for targeted

marketing appeals

2. Collect demographic data for marketing purposes – and connect it automatically to the database!

3. Build a deeper relationship with donors – give them a platform to be heard

4. Uncover leads for other forms of giving – including legacies, middle gifts, and major donor gifts

04/19/23 proprietary and confidential 42

Facilitation

Getting everyone on the same page

Integrated Planning: a full contact sport…

• You must bring senior management e.g. VP, CEO level staff into the planning of an online and integrated plan

• You must have one person to manage facilitation

• You must be able to facilitate a face-to-face session that brings diverse teams together to plan together

• You must have the ability to forge agreement (budget, responsibilities, etc) on an integrated plan that includes many departments, many channels

What does a face-to-face have to do to be successful?

• Talk, and listen, to team members

• Review the past, the current reality, and future plans

• Analyze the data

• Prepare for a face to face session that will push, pull, cajole, challenge and team build.

What do you do before you meet?

What do you do before you meet?

• Talk, and listen, to team members

• Review the past, the current reality, and future plans

• Analyze the data

• Prepare for a face to face session that will push, pull, cajole, challenge and team build.

The Balanced Scorecard

The Dramatic Oversimplifcation of Integrated Fundraising, Marketing, Communications and

Campaigning

04/19/23 proprietary and confidential 49

The Evidence

Putting It All Together

• Brand is perceived as authentic

• They have moved away from a past of innovation to a current reality of ‘silos’

A Public Broadcaster

• 2nd gift conversion dropped from 83% to 30%

• Net loss of donors since 2005.

• LTV of donors decreasing significantly since 2001

• Magazine, which was the primary stewardship vehicle, stopped in 2007.

• Share of voice, i.e.number of times donors hear from TVO in a year, has decreased.

Things needed to be improved

• Senior management support

• Cross departmental cooperation

• Create an integrated plan and stick to it

It would take an integrated solution…

Online and offline integration

Online and offline integration

Launched Impact Report for Donor Loyalty

• Promoted online and through web

• Donor direct mail piece

• Householder

• Brochure in Impact Report

• Focused direct response TV advertisements

• Streamlined online fundraising

• Launched new microsite with focused campaign feel

• Built email list through “pledge sign-up”

• Ran focused e-mail conversion strategy

• End of year e-mail appeals

Launched Symbolic Giving

Launched Symbolic Giving

• Highlighted 40th anniversary

• Telemarketing

• Integrated Telemarketing with DM strategy

• Follow-up post direct mail appeal

• In-bound support

• Brought in industry-leading call centre to handle inbound fundraising calls outside of regular hours (weekends/holidays etc.)

• Introduced integrated (mail, phone, online) renewal strategy

Launched cultivation mailings

• Q3 - 26% increase over same quarter previous year

• Q4 - 40% increase over same quarter previous year

• 2011 – continued increase of 25% from 2010

Results – 2010 and 2011

• http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/5RNDHZ2

Remember to fill out the online survey to win FREE

consulting from me