Tracking & Converting Supporters for Maximum Results

Janna Chan, Center for Reproductive RightsJaime Grams, IntegralDane Grams, Care2

A R E C I P E F O R UCCESS$

Presented by:

From the kitchen of:

about

Citizens use Care2 for:

Starting or signing petitions

Volunteering

Donating $

Spreading news

Commenting on blogs

Starting group (organizing)

Joining nonprofits

Nonprofits use Care2 for:

Recruiting Donors & Supporters

Traffic/Branding/Awareness

Advocacy

Building Facebook fan base

SETTING THE STAGE

The Cold, Hard Facts

Overall revenue from nonprofits declined again in 2011. The median drop

was 2.1 percent.

Overall the number of donors for ALL nonprofits has declined over the last

six years by 5.3 percent. Why? The number of new donors being acquired

is shrinking. The overall number of New Donors acquired per year has

declined 14.6 percent over the last six years.

Donors are becoming more generous. BUT the Increase in Revenue Per

Donor is still not compensating for the Declining Quantity of Donors.

Across channels, 81 percent of all gifts last year came in via Direct Mail,

vs. 6.4 percent coming Online, and 3 percent coming via Telemarketing.2011 Target Analytics donorCentrics Index of National Fundraising Performance

A Bright Spot

Online giving is growing rapidly. The number of online gifts is growing 22 percent per year, and the dollar value of these gifts is growing 20 percent per year.

Online gifts are also much bigger than donations made via Direct Mail or Telemarketing. The average online gift was $63, compared to $38 for Direct Mail and $39 for Telemarketing.

2011 Target Analytics donorCentrics Index of National Fundraising Performance

2011 Target Analytics donorCentrics Index of National Fundraising Performance

SIZE MATTERS

A Large E-Mail List…

is one of the key ingredients to grassroots strength and campaign victories;

means greater success in online engagement including increased web traffic, brand buzz, organic recruitment, advocacy and fundraising;

provides instant feedback;

matters to corporate sponsors;

helps with media attention;

and is one of an organization’s greatest financial assets.

2011 Convio Online Marketing Nonprofit Benchmark Index™ Study

Building the List

Email Append

Home Page Capture

Involvement Campaign—pledge, petition, quiz, survey

Take advantage of a hot topic

Tell-a-friend

Social Media Presence

Banner Ads

Co-registration

Cost per lead partnership

Keyword Search/Google

Offline techniques

“SO YOU’VE ACQUIRED THEM; NOW WHAT?”

COOKING OR CHAOS?

Communication Best Practices

Immediate Welcome Notice (within 24 hours) with low level engagement.

Followed by two additional communications over the next two weeks (include a fundraising ask).

Monthly emails including:1 Education

1 Engagement

1 Newsletter

1 Fundraising

Seize any opportunity to communicate breaking news, or crisis, etc.

Track/source all communications

Include online subscribers in your offline mail and phone programs.

THE CENTER FOR REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS STORY

“We envision a world where every woman is free to decide whether and when to have children, have access to the best reproductive healthcare available, and can exercise her choices without coercion or discrimination. Plain and simple: We envision a world where every woman participates with full dignity as an equal member of society.”

The Center: Facts & FiguresThe Center was founded in June 1992.

Our Founders wanted an organization with a global vision.

The Center’s mission: to use the law to advance reproductive freedom as a fundamental human right that all governments are legally obligated to protect, respect, and fulfill.

The Center is based in New York City, but has offices in Washington D.C., Kenya, Colombia and Nepal.

Docket load: 47 cases worldwide.

Recent Successes: Oklahoma & Honduras

In 2011, the Center raised $15,495,229 in financial support, 56% came from foundations and 39% from individuals donors. 

The Center: A Case Study

In May 2009, the Center had a list of ~5,000 badly abused and neglected email subscribers.

No formal online program.

The Center wasn’t using a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool.

Instead, emails were sent through an online mail vendor that only sent email. There was no way to:

Engage in online advocacy and grassroots lobbyingFundraiseShare campaigns or engage supporters on social mediaTrack information and evaluate statistics

The Center: A Case Study

In August 2009, the Center started using Salsa as our CRM.

In November 2009, we launched our first paid recruitment campaign

with a small budget.

Today, the Center has 85,000 supporters on its list.

The Right Tools & The Right Strategy = Significant Growth

The Center’s FDA Campaign

In 1999, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves Plan B—but with many unnecessary restrictions.

In 2001, the Center begins its legal case against the FDA.

In March 2010, the Center launches its first online advocacy campaign targeting the FDA.

Online Tactics: Action alert emails

In-house Video

Simultaneous Care2 Campaign

Blog outreach

Strong website presence with multiple opportunities to share content

Yeah, but the way they make you get it is SO embarrassing…

It broke!?!At least there’s

the morning after pill.

Care2 Campaign

FDA Campaign Results

House File: 2,863 actions = 20% response rate

Video Views (YouTube and Vimeo): 14,696

Care2 Campaign: 2,127Care2 featured the FDA campaign on its homepage and wrote a blog about the campaign which quickly led to over 10,000 actions taken and 2,000 comments.

Organic List Growth (homepage): 794

Featured in over 50 blogs

Missed Opportunity: the Center was not conducting online fundraising yet.

FDA Campaign Update

In November 2010, the Center filed a motion for contempt against the FDA .

On December 7, 2011, the FDA was slated to finally end restrictions on EC, but…

The Center is now back in court.

The Center partnered again with Care2 in February 2012: Care2 Email Acquisition: 3,030

Care2 Daily Action: Generated over 2,300 actions and 1,100 new email registrations

The Center’s OngoingCommunications Strategies

More (and better) advocacy campaigns:No fluff!

Still the number one driver for organic list growth

Keeps existing supporters engaged

Provides clear path for social networks to reach your

email list

Communications StrategiesDiversity of engagements:

Video Submissions: Not My Tax Dollars

Antis in Congress intent on separating all tax dollars from anything remotely touching abortion

January 2010: List size only ~15k, roughly 1k on Twitter, Facebook

Received two dozen videos, many from prominent bloggers

More than 6,000 views. Exposure to new audiences, especially on important blog networks

New Yorker Style Cartoon Caption Contest

To support our case against Texas’s mandatory ultrasound law,

asked folks to submit a caption for our cartoon

More than 4,000 submissions

Allowed supporters to vote for their favorite caption

Winning caption featured on the Center’s website, eNews, email

and social networks

Communications Strategies

Twitter Targeting

Defeated an anti-

choice law in

Oklahoma

Asked supporters to

tweet at OK Governor:

Communications Strategies

What We’ve Learned

charity: water likes to say: Make Mistakes Quickly

Don’t be afraid to introduce new campaign ideas

Identify audiences

Manage expectations

How We Evaluate Success

Return On Investment (ROI)

List Engagement

High retention rates; low unsubscribes

Convincing management to let you try something new!

INTERPRETING DATA & MEASURING SUCCESS

About Integral

Founded July, 2001, Integral’s primary focus is to help organizations leverage their data to make better decision for sustained growth.

Combining deep analysis and our experience with market leaders, we turn data into insight.

ObjectivesIntegrate the online and offline databases to understand pre- and post- ‘registration’ donor performance.

Conversion: How many subscribers with no prior giving eventually donated to the Center?

LTV: In addition to their crucial advocacy participation, how much have our outside leads donated?

Based on historical performance, do opportunities exist to scale growth activities through this medium? What is the anticipated ROI?

Data NotesData Sources:

Offline: The Raiser’s Edge

Online: Salsa

Data was provided from both

the online and offline

databases and integrated

within Integral’s data

warehouse.

The process allowed us to:

Separate out anyone with a donation prior to their online sign-up

Determine total value per donor (including online and offline giving).

List GrowthThe Center was able to impact file size through outside investments.

Donor ConversionFor purposes of this webinar, registrants have been divided into 2 categories: Care 2 and Balance.

Data Source Registrants

% of Total

Care2 28,004 34.79% Balance 52,491 65.21%

Balance Care2 JoinMonth Registrants Conversion Registrants Conversion 2009 - 11 996 1.29% 3,098 0.93% 2010 - 01 480 0.87% 3,053 1.12% 2010 - 04 148 2.72% 1,671 0.77% 2010 - 06 43 1.12% 1,319 0.35% 2010 - 07 32 1.39% 738 1.30% 2010 - 09 4,847 1.18% 474 1.49% 2010 - 10 4,748 1.40% 4,280 0.65% 2011 - 07 2,651 1.30% 727 1.29% 2011 - 11 5,668 0.45% 5,729 0.46% 2011 - 12 2,573 0.57% 3,425 0.30% 2012 - 02 2,595 0.25% 3,315 0.23%

For an overall conversion rate comparison, prior donors and months with statistically insignificant Care2 counts have been omitted.

Generally speaking, conversion rates have varied by sign-up month but the Care2 names have converted at lower while fairly comparable rates when you look at the months with similar volumes.

Historical Registrant Value 24For purposes of this discussion, registrants have been divided into 2 categories:

Care2 and Non-Care2

Based on registrants with no prior gift on file that joined the Center’s list 24+ months ago, the Center received nearly $1 from each registrant over the first 24 months.

JoinSourceCodeId Registrants w/ 24 Mos $/Reg Mos24Non-Care2 7,388 $0.98Care2 6,188 $0.96Grand Total 13,576 $0.97

24 mos on file

Donor Value 24For purposes of this discussion, donors have been divided into 2 categories:

Care2 and Non-Care2

Converted Care2 donors have a join amount around $10 less than the Non-

Care2 donors…BUT they contribute at nearly the same rate over the

first 12 months on file. The delta in both cases is approximately $10.

$28.45

$40.98 $39.03

$52.45

$0.00$5.00

$10.00$15.00$20.00$25.00$30.00$35.00$40.00$45.00$50.00$55.00$60.00

InitialVPD

VPDMos2

VPDMos3

VPDMos4

VPDMos5

VPDMos7

VPDMos8

VPDMos9

VPDMos10

VPDMos11

VPDMos12

Care2 Non-Care2

Registrant and Donor Value Conclusions

Based on a review of historical value data, it seems that Care2

leads and converted donors perform similarly over the first 12 and

24 months:

The cumulative donor value curve, which accounts for subsequent

retention and gift amounts are very similar.

The total value per Care2 registrant is similar to that of the non-Care2

registrant.

In this particular example, the opportunities area exists on the

conversion front where a .75 - 1.5% conversion will not break-

even in 24 months, a 2 - 3% conversion will likely do so.

Recent TrendsBased on more recent performance of Nov/Dec 2011 campaigns, the Center has realized a much higher Value per Registrant over the first 3 months indicating current strategies are improving conversion rates and timing of conversion.

$0.10

$0.07 $0.08 $0.07

$0.04

$0.00 $0.00

$0.07

$0.12

$0.05

$0.12

$0.23

$0.14

$0.00

$0.03

$0.05

$0.08

$0.10

$0.13

$0.15

$0.18

$0.20

$0.23

$0.25

2009

- 11

2010

- 01

2010

- 04

2010

- 06

2010

- 07

2010

- 09

2010

- 10

2011

- 07

2011

- 11

2011

- 12

$/Reg Mos1 $/Reg Mos3

Pathway to GrowthAn example of a conversion/ROI targets:

Web Reg Month Registrants

% Converted

online

# Converted

online% Converted

Offl ine# Converted

Offl ineTotal

ConvertedTotal Avg

GiftInitial

Value/Reg

Subs Value per Donor 18

Mos ROI18Mos 1 5,000 1.65% 83 1.60% 80 163 $30.00 $0.98 $18.00 104%Mos 2 5,000 1.65% 83 1.60% 80 163 $30.00 $0.98 $18.00 104%Mos 3 5,000 1.65% 83 1.60% 80 163 $30.00 $0.98 $18.00 104%

Setting both online and offline conversion and subsequent value goals will allow the Center to manage the investment to a desired ROI target.

MOVING FORWARD

The Essential E-gredients for a Successful Long-Term Relationship

Educate

Engage

Enhance

Evaluate

thank you! questions? contact us!

Janna Chanjchan@reprorights.org@ReproRights

Jaime Gramsjgrams@integral-dc.com

Dane Gramsdaneg@care2team.com@Care2Team