EMBARKon your way to breakthrough marketing and fundraising

SPRING 2018

In This Issue:- Our Favorite 2018 Trends- Recent Partner Breakthroughs- Tips for Effective eAppeals

Planning for a year of results driven growth, insightful strategic planning, and stronger donor relationships.

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NonProfit PRO recently released 40 expected trends to guide organizations through the new year. With the current administration’s tax reform enacted, many of our nonprofit partners are wondering about the future of donor relations, considering the fewer charitable tax incentives available. Here are our top six promising trends from this list that will help organizations successfully navigate fundraising this year.

First-person StorytellingPeople react to well-told stories, especially from the perspective of those who you serve. Appealing to your donor base requires engaging, multimedia content as well as mastering the art of concise and intriguing storytelling that can take your group to the next level.

Stronger Donor RelationshipsBuilding meaningful relationships with donors is key to sustainable long-term revenue and increasing overall brand recognition. Simply spewing information at supporters will not be enough to garner high-level donations. Become familiar with donor communication preferences and always remember to treat them as the most important asset to your mission.

Strategic Growth Analysis and Deep Data AnalyticsThe nonprofit sector is quickly realizing that fundraising is just as much a science as it is creative and emotion driven. RKD Alpha Dog's Strategic Growth Analysis report is a fantastic tool we use to see a deep drill-down of our partner's data which can maximize fundraising efforts by learning past donor behavior and predicting which demographic groups are more likely to financially support a cause, optimize how funds are best managed and identify areas that could be strengthened.

Our Favorite Nonprofit Trends for

Fundraising & Marketing in 2018

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Our Favorite Nonprofit Trends for Fundraising & Marketing in 2018

Donor RetentionMake sure campaign messages are high-quality and target the donor’s emotions and goals for the mission rather than push out messages just to stay in touch will keep donors engaged.

Email ImprovementTake advantage of RKD Alpha Dog's expert strategies and continuous innovation to perfect the art of email fundraising. Always keep a healthy list and consistent communication between you and your donors, which will result in email and donor list growth.

Changes in Payment MethodsMobile pay offers huge, untapped potential for nonprofit fundraising. People are continually looking for quicker, easier ways to donate. Many “abandoned carts” stem from people’s annoyance with complicated processes such as filling out a long form that requires personal, contact, credit card information and verification questions.

With mobile payment, people can act quickly instead of opting out or planning to return to the form later which can easily result in a loss of donation. Making the process of giving convenient for your current and prospective donors will increase your response rates and net revenue.

This year, fundraising will require more than just knowing the basics. Nonprofit groups who plan to increase results, grow their donor base and move their mission forward will need to focus a lot of attention on perfecting the donor’s experience by making them feel connected, valued and inspired. Talk to your account services team about becoming a mean, lean, fundraising machine in 2018!

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New DonorAcquisitionCase Study

THE CHALLENGEAcquisition is key to the success of any direct mail program. The donors acquired through deeper market penetration can provide long-term sustainable financial support. For this particular hunger relief organization, it was our goal to acquire new donors with a high initial value to increase the overall long-term value.

THE STRATEGYLast year, we mailed a localized acquisition package to one branch of the food bank's service area and used a response list acquisition segmented donor file. They had an incredible response rate compared to the previous year. Then, during the fourth quarter of 2017, we increased the acquisition efforts again. We added another branch with specific localized copy and creative, again mailed the original branch with the same segmentation and localization, and mailed a donor package to that first new set of donors from the previous year.

ResultsPrior to this file segmentation and localization of creative design, when we mailed acquisition into these areas using the same package/strategy for their entire area, we saw very low response rates. This localized version partnered with strategic donor segmentation has helped the organization acquire many more new donors at higher average gift levels from these target areas.

Localization and list segmentation can be critical factors for any successful fundraising campaign, but especially when it comes to new donor acquisition.

319%Overall higher response rate for the

localized packages compared to bulk acquisition mailing.

19.3%Response rate from Q417 new donors acquired in 2016 from

localized prospect mailing.

76%Overall lower cost per dollar raised

for the localized packages compared to bulk acquisition mailing.

$0.05Cost per dollar raised for Q417

new donors from previous acquisition campaign.

$84 Average gift from second branch's

acquisition mailing compared to $52 bulk service area prospect campaign.

Before you read any further, look at the little guy on the front one more time.

Would you like to put a smile like that on thousands of faces in our area? You can... it’s

so easy. As a friend of Food Bank, we hope you know it's your kind generosity that fills

hungry tummies and puts smiles like that on children's faces in our community.

Not only during the holidays, but every day, the Food Bank fights hunger with

support from friends like you. We partner with 150 pantries, shelters, soup kitchens

and mobile pantry sites in our community to provide the food needed for our

hungry neighbors.Every $10 you donate will provide $50 worth of food to children, seniors

and families facing hunger. Hopefully, that will put a smile on your face, too.

Please help today. The gift you give will be worth every little smile.

Happy Holidays to you and your loved ones

...to fill hungry tummies.

Yes!Yes! I want to help the Food Bank provide food to hungry children, seniors and families in our community. I’m enclosing a gift of:

$40 provides 200 meals. $50 provides 250 meals. $75 provides 375 meals. $100 provides 500 meals. $______to help out as much as possible.

Sample A SampleSuite 5101234 Main StreetAnytown, US 12345-6789

Food Bank Name1234 Main StreetAnytown, US 12345-6789

ABCDE 123456 XXXXX RM

Phone Number • Website

B R EAKTH ROU G H

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Animal RescueeCampaign Results

Many of our animal welfare partners often have heartbreaking stories of animals in urgent need of rescue. These stories can focus on a single animal but more often are about dozens or even hundreds of animals facing cruelty or neglect. RKD Alpha Dog works to turn these stories into eAppeals that promote the shelter's mission and drive fundraising to help the rescued animals and fight animal cruelty.

The challenges involved include:• Little to no planning for when these stories will happen and have to be worked into the flow of other regularly scheduled eAppeals, enewsletters, and other emails.• The rescues may include pictures or details that can be too graphic to share.• We've learned that dog stories raise more money than others...cats raise less than dogs but more than horses...all of this requires a balance in messaging, especially when dogs may not be part of the rescue story.

Rescue eAppeals have no planned send dates. The campaigns are generated as the stories happen and are sent as soon as possible to align with social media or local news coverage of the rescue stories. We send these stories to the full email file - major donors, lapsed donors, monthly sustainers, and even non-donors who have subscribed. On average, animal rescue eAppeals make up around 15% of all revenue generated from email.

Results Rescue-focused eAppeals have a higher average open rate and higher click-to-open rate over the organization's overall email open rate benchmark:

Open Rate: 11.27% Rescue eAppeals vs. 9.85% Overall

Click Through Open Rate: 7.24% Rescue eAppeals vs. 6.21% Overall

B R EAKTH ROU G H

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Six easy to implement tips for getting your email opened, read, and acted on.

Do This Not That

Tips for Effective eAppeals

One-third of online fundraising revenue comes from email, making effective eAppeals just as important as the design of your website.

The goal of an eAppeal is to compel your supporters to take action. You not only want to grab people’s attention but also turn clicks into donations.

The digital team at RKD Group has helped to raise millions of dollars with eAppeals and, after years of testing and reflection, we think we’ve nailed down the anatomy of the ideal email appeal.

Start at the BeginningPeople get hundreds of emails a day, so what would make them want to open yours? Familiarity with your brand and a relevant or enticing subject line that relates directly to them is the best start to getting an open.

The key here is relevance. Meaning, your sender and subject line have to jump out of the inbox and grab their attention.

Think in DecisionsEmail pre-headers are the short secondary subject line which gives a preview of what someone is about to read. People will use this component to gauge if your email is worth opening and reading further, so it needs to stand out. Ask yourself: does the pre-header text entice as much as the subject the line?

Both the main subject line and the pre-header line need equal consideration. They are each a decision point made in milliseconds that can be the difference in your email getting opened or thumb-swiped to the trash.

Do: Subject Line: “We can only get there with your help, Sue”Don’t: Subject Line: “We need your help”

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Do This Not That

Tips for Effective eAppealsClear AskNever forget the point of your communication. Why are you writing? A donation? Volunteer sign-up? Urgent appeal? Advocacy?

Don’t be afraid to ask and be direct. Beating around the bush will cause reader confusion and negate the point of you reaching out in the first place. Also, remember to create the sense of urgency.

Do: Give Now Button or “Please give and help us…”

Don’t: Place multiple call outs in the email and/or put give buttons in odd places

Intentional ImageryWhether or not to use imagery should be based on your resources, your testing and your strategy. It’s important for your images to match the feelings you want to be portrayed in the message. If you present a story of neglect, the images shouldn’t reflect health and happiness.

Don’t shoehorn in an image if you don’t need one. But if you do use one, remember that every part of your eAppeal must elicit emotion as with any fundraising effort.

Actionable HeadlineIf someone doesn’t have the time to read the entire email, can they get the gist of what you’re talking about from the headline?

Too many eAppeals miss the boat with a headline that doesn’t set the hook. Perfecting this can help the reader make a quick decision to take action.

Clear, Concise & Scannable MessageAn eAppeal’s body text should be scannable; meaning that if someone doesn’t have time to read it word-for-word, they can still understand the story and why you’re writing them. A concise message with crisp writing and scannable text will help you win the battle for focus.

Need help? Your Account Supervisor can connect you with the right people at RKD Alpha Dog to ensure your eAppeals and digital strategies are top notch!

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NTA

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RKDAlphaDog.com | info@rkdalphadog.com

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RKD Alpha DogTEAM NEWSRKD Alpha Dog is pleased to welcome Melissa Starr, Staff Assistant, to the Lincoln Office team!

We began the year announcing five promotions for these employees: Angela Kuhlmann, Data SupervisorDee Soflin, Lead Data Technical Liaison Adam Hintz, Food Bank Account CoordinatorTrish Hoelting, Sales & Marketing ManagerKim Takkunen, Vice President of Strategy

Mark Your Calendars

Conference ScheduleFeeding America Executive Director's Summit

April 26-28 in Tampa, FL

SAWA Management ConferenceJune 6-8 in Chicago, IL

Feeding America Mobilizing the Public ConferenceMid-August in Chicago, IL

SAWA Annual ConferenceNovember 8-10 in Kansas City, MO