Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
1
Event Fundraising: Converting Event Participants into Long-
term Donors
Leveraging innovative techniques and messaging to build long-term, high-value constituentsTom Gaffny, [email protected]
June 2004
2
Agenda
American Charities in Crisis
A Focus on Special Events Fundraising
The Value of Volunteers from Your Special Events
Relationship Initiatives
Solidify Event Relationships through Direct Marketing
Utilize Event Names for Direct Marketing Prospecting
Channel Integration to Increase the Overall Value of a Donor
3
American Charities in Crisis
4
Challenging Times for Fundraisers
The size of the American donor population has fallen to an historic low Contributing Households
87% in 1997 69% in 2002 Estimated loss: 23 million donors
Donor confidence in not-for-profits is at an all-time low From 2000-2002, 14% of donors dropped an NPO they had
regularly supported 53% were dropped because they were no longer
considered trustworthy
Consumer confidence, which closely mirrors philanthropic giving, was at an all-time low in February 2003 Mean per capita annual donations dropped 37% between
1998 and 2002
5
Increased Competition for Donor Dollars
Decreased funding from public, corporate and foundation support
Organizations with broad missions have been challenged by smaller, more narrowly focused organizations
National organizations are challenged by local charities with more perceived relevance
6
The Effect on Your Acquisition Programs
Most impacted by these challenges
Increased expenses for these channels from fixed costs and decreased results
Organizations are less willing to spend on a program that is an investment
Many organizations must replace 50% or more of their donors each year due to donor “churn” Falls primarily on individual giving, such as direct
marketing and special events
7
The Boomers – It’s all about them!
Demands on system Customer service
Single view of constituent through database
Communication streams Personalized treatment
Variety of channels
Require stewardship and “fuller” relationships Includes volunteering
Inherently skeptical of institutions
8
A Focus on Special Events Fundraising
9
Special Events
Challenges Also affected by trends in philanthropy
Expensive
Staffing and distributed networks can lead to issues with best practices and to significant “churn” of donors
10
Special Events
The Event Pyramid Attrition at every level
Site
Event
Team captain or corporate contact
Participant
Sponsor
Recent Epsilon study found that up to 70% of sponsors supporting nationwide special events were not asked to support the event in the following year
11
Special Events
Benefits Can become linked to organization itself, i.e., March
of Dimes, Race for the Cure
Excellent volunteering opportunity to begin or deepen relationship
Excellent tool for Brand building
Local presence for national organizations
Connecting with those who have affinity to your cause
Using the volunteer pool to identify potential relationships
12
The Value of Volunteers from Your Special Events
13
Volunteers
While charitable giving in the United States may be down, volunteerism is on the rise.
AARP reports that 63.8 million people volunteered in the U.S. last year – an increase of 14.5% over the previous year.
In addition, AARP reports that volunteering rates are decreasing among older Americans (65+ years) but are on the increase among younger Americans.
14
Volunteering through Special Events
What are volunteers looking for? Organization reflects their own values and ethics
Time is meaningful
Want to be regarded as “who they are” not just for “what they have”
Challenge for organizations Reflect their values
Value their time and contribution
Engage the volunteers after the event to expand the relationship
15
Volunteers and Donors
As essential to American charities as tithing
Donating and volunteering are inherently linked
American Demographics, January 2003
Annual Contributions per Household
Annual Contributions
per Volunteering Household
Improvement
Male $1,778 $2,460 +38%
Female $1,525 $2,029 +33%
Age 50-64
$1,912 $2,614 +37%
Age 65+ $1,718 $2,297 +34%
16
Relationship Initiatives for Special Events Fundraising
17
Relationship Initiatives
1. Solidify Event Relationships through Direct Marketing
2. Utilize Event Names for Direct Marketing Prospecting
3. Channel Integration to Increase the Overall Value of a Donor
18
#1Solidify Event Relationships
through Direct Marketing
19
Solidify Event Relationships through Direct Marketing: The Three Rs
Reinforcement Of organization’s brand
Many participants in large-scale national events cannot name, unaided, the benefiting charity
Of the event
Re-recruitment Buildup and virtual kickoff to event Report back to reinforce value of volunteer’s
contribution
Retention Sponsors who may not be asked to give to the event
again can be cultivated through direct marketing
20
Solidify Event Relationships through Direct Marketing
Can allow an organization to: Free up local staff: Allow people on the front lines to
focus on top fundraisers, team cultivation, and corporate sponsorships
Be consistently branded and powerful: Utilize proven messaging across all chapters, leveraging organization-wide best practices
Be multi-channel and multi-touch: Message through a multitude of mechanisms … including channels of preference
Maximize revenue from each segment: Create meaningful communications that focus on the key constituencies of Team Captains and high-dollar participants, challenging each with suitable arrays and goals
21
#2Utilize Event Names for Direct
Marketing Prospecting
22
Utilize Event Names for Direct Marketing Prospecting
Acquisition has been the biggest area of challenge for most charities in the last five years
Data capture for events has improved Team Raiser online tool
Online and onsite data capture
Increased credit card usage
23
Utilize Event Names for Direct Marketing Prospecting
Comparing to traditional DM names Lower response should be expected
Different arrays or ask strategies
Long-term value
Co-branding and creative Adding the event logo to the “conversion” piece can
establish a visual connection between the event and the organization
Organizations with multiple events can use a similar template and insert the specific event logo
24
Co-Branding Test
$0.00
$5.00
$10.00
$15.00
$20.00
$25.00
$30.00
Event A Logo
Event A No Logo
Event B Logo
Event B NoLogo
0.00%
0.20%
0.40%
0.60%
0.80%
1.00%
1.20%
1.40%
1.60%
1.80%
Average Gift
Response Rate
One organization’s Fall 2003 Co-Branding test yielded higher response rates with slight decreases in avg. gift
25
Utilize Event Names for Direct Marketing Prospecting
Mining for Gold – the modeling approach Large universes lend themselves to modeling
Predictive power of data Relationship data from your organization’s database
Outside demographic data
Modeled event names can replace marginal outside list names
No additional investment
26
Utilizing Event Names for Direct Marketing Prospecting: Findings
Cultivation of the relationship through direct marketing benefits the special event, too! One organization sent traditional direct mail to some
event participants after the event occurred Those who received direct mail during the year actually
were 12% more likely to return to their event in the subsequent year
Their fundraising amounts or kit value to the event in the next year were 16% higher
Overall, 56% of the donors were retained to the organization vs. 34% for those who didn’t receive any touches after the event
27
Utilizing Event Names for Direct Marketing Prospecting: Findings
One charity analyzed the value of these event donors who became “multi-touchpoint” donors by giving an additional gift to direct mail Retained at a rate that is 50% to 70% higher than
overall
Response rates are lower than DM acquired, but Higher average gifts
Improved frequency of giving
Resulted in up to an 18% lift in overall value to the organization
28
#3Channel Integration to Increase
the Overall Value of a Donor
29
Channel Integration to Increase the Overall Value of a Donor
Single View of the Donor Requires some coordination or enterprise-wide
database
Prohibits or restricts the “balkanization” of constituent data
Allows you to recognize the relationship Specialized and personalized treatments
Acknowledgments
Identify donors with deeper commitment Additional sustainer opportunities
Advocacy
Major and planned giving
30
Channel Integration to Increase the Overall Value of a Donor
Value of donors Annual revenue can be increased incrementally
Average Gift/Donor
More likely to be retained Higher long-term value
$69 $44
$164
$0$50
$100$150$200
DM Only Events Only Both
31
Channel Integration to Increase the Overall Value of a Donor: Findings
Direct Marketing in the Mix Ensure regular communication
Strengthens branding
Exposes constituents to different aspects of the organization
Allows for quick dissemination of timely, relevant information
32
Channel Integration to Increase the Overall Value of a Donor: Findings
Multi-touchpoint donors One organization found that as the number of channels
or touchpoints increased, so did the value to the organization
Cumulative Revenue/Donor
$51 $163$361
$990
$0
$400
$800
$1,200
1 2 3 4+
# of sources
33
Acquisition through individual giving programs has become and will likely remain a challenge.
Millions of Americans, including the elusive Boomers, are raising their hands for their organization of choice by volunteering at special events.
Charities are well positioned to capitalize on this opportunity and deepen relationships if they can Capture and utilize data Bridge organizational structures Utilize communication “machines” already in place Reinforce brand through effective, timely communication Select and focus on volunteers and donors with the most
potential value Develop successful channel integration strategies to
maximize effort
In Conclusion
