John Tabita

Most think they’re a saint and run an angelic nonprofit fundraising campaign. With over 82 years of direct marketing experience, we have found that most need to be forgiven for at least a sin or two. Moving forward, we will go through the 7 Deadly . Sins and explain how each sin can be detrimental to any fundraising campaign. You have been warned... Do all your direct mail letters start with “Dear Friend”? You might as well say, “I don’t care what your name is; your money spends the same as everyone else’s.” Making donors feel like a number is a deadly sin in nonprofit fundraising. Forgive me... Personalization speaks directly to the recipient—on the salutation, the envelope and throughout the copy. But it’s more than just the recipient’s name. Additional touches like last gift amount and giving history can mean the difference between a repeat donor and onetime giver. The No. 1 benefit of personalized print – increased response rates – is to be expected. The typical response rate for static direct mail is 1% to 1.5%. Personalized direct mail can produce dramatically increased response rates of 8%, 12% or even higher for well-designed campaigns. 1 1. Quad/Graphics Whitepaper: Leveraging Relevancy in Your Direct Marketing Communications, Apr. 2015 Personalizing your direct mail piece tells your donor that they aren’t just another record in your database. Acknowledging their name, last time they donated, what their last gift did, and what will happen if they donate again makes them feel important and needed. Imagine donating $500 to an organization and the next year receiving an appeal letter asking for $50. On the other hand, suppose you’d donated $20 and now they’re asking for $200? Feel like your $20 donation was unappreciated? Failing to segment your message to each donor’s previous giving level leaves money on the table—by asking for less and receiving less, or by asking too high and receiving nothing. If everyone receives the same message, you miss the change to improve the effectiveness of your fundraising. Plus, you create an atmosphere where donors feel like they are nothing special—a deadly sin in nonprofit fundraising. Forgive me... Giving level is one example of segmentation. Other ways to segment your list are: • • • • • By location By demographics (age, income, gender, education, etc.) By behavior (active donor, lapsed donor, major donor) By occasion (theme or seasonal promotion) By preferred giving channel (donation webpage, Facebook donation page, check by mail) Segmenting lets you create strategies to market to different donor types, which you can use to analyze and improve your results—the topic of Deadly Sin #3. Forgive me... Analyzing results is the only way to move your program in a positive direction. Here are few questions to ask yourself at the end of an appeal: How many people visited our donation page? How many new donors did we acquire? How many donors raised their gift from last appeal? Knowing the results determines what you do next. It’s how you stop wasting money on areas of your program that didn’t meet expectations (copy, lists, drop dates, etc.) Repeating the same tactics again and again, without knowing their effectiveness is a deadly sin in nonprofit fundraising. Sample results Here’s the good news: tactics can be adjusted to produce better results. Unless you’re guilty of the next sin... Analyzing results won’t help if you don’t have a flexible marketing plan. Being inflexible means missing out on profitable opportunities, or worse—continuing to waste money. Here’s what I mean. Suppose you plan to mail three times a year to three different zip codes at 10,000 pieces each. After repenting of the previous sin, you analyzed the results of your first drop and found: Zip Code 1 got a 5% response rate—that’s great Zip Code 2 got a 3% response rate—that’s good Zip Code 3 got a 0.5% response rate—that’s bad Forgive me... Still want to mail another 10,000 pieces to zip code 3 for the second drop? I didn’t think so. Allocating mailing resources to areas that get a higher response is just one example of how to get a better return for your fundraising dollars. Offline giving through paper checks (58 percent) remains the most common form of receiving donations across all nonprofit organizations. But did you know that just under half (48 percent) currently receive online donations? GiveCentral Survey Report: 2015 Predictions for Nonprofit Giving Forgive me... Clearly, neglecting digital marketing is a deadly sin in nonprofit fundraising. The Worst Thing about Digital: The Best Thing about Digital: It’s All Trackable It’s All Trackable Digital marketing allows you to see exactly how many people how many people views your ad, clicked your ad, and visited your donation page. Digital marketing also allows you to see exactly how many people left your donation page without making a donation. In fact, study by U.K. based UX The more tracking, the more data design firm Nomensa found you have to move your program that 47% or people who visited a nonprofit donation page left in a positive direction. without completing the process. (Your mileage may vary.) Reducing Donation Form Abandonment One way to reduce donation form abandonment is through retargeting. Retargeting is a lesser-known type of online advertising that lets you continue marketing to visitors after they leave your website. As they visit other sites in the display ad network, retargeting technology serves up customized display ads about your organization, reminding them of their donation intent. When combined with display or pay-per-click advertising, retargeting can bring an exponential increase to your digital fundraising efforts. Potential donor visits your donation page clicks your ad and returns to your donation page leaves without donating to visit other websites sees your ad, reminding them of their donation intent. Did you know that the number of active donors in your database will shrink by up to 15% each year? For smaller nonprofits ($2M and under) its nearly one of every two donors annually.1 Forgive me... Do you have a plan to replenish them? Here’s three acquisition lists that will help: Demographic List Identifying common characteristics of those within your donor base can help you target people more likely to give to your organization. Common characteristics can be: Age Income Number of children Gender Head of household 1 Response-Based List Geographic List Target prospects within a specific radius of your location. If your nonprofit is known outside your hometown, try targeting high-propensity donors in These typically require a 5,000 minimum order and surrounding zip codes. are more expensive. But you’ll get a higher response Donors move, change jobs, retire and pass away. If rate than a demographic list. you don’t have a strategy to replace at least 15% of If you are aggressive about them each year, your list will diminish—guaranteed. acquisition, a responsebased list is worth the extra Another deadly sin in cost. nonprofit fundraising. A response-based list contains people who have donated to other nonprofits. A 2013 Blackbaud Whitepaper published in 2013 by reported overall retention rates for repeat donors (donors who have given more than once) fluctuated between 53% and 70% depending on the industry. Retention rates for first time donors dip down to 35%, and even as low as 20% in some industries. When you make any purchasing decision, do you always look at price as the deciding factor? Of course, price is important, but it’s not the most important factor when making a buying decision. Forgive me... Getting the best price for the best value and return on investment is more important than price alone. When choosing the right direct mail vendor, here are some questions to ask: What are the vendor’s capabilities? Does the vendor charge extra for additional services? By “capabilities,” I mean: Copywriting Graphic design Lettershop Strategy Analysis Personalization Segmentation Variable print Dedicated account manager List rental Digital advertising Database management Some vendors include design, copywriting and even lettershop, but charge extra for analysis. (See Sin #3.) Is the vendor flexible? Will your vendor analyze results and make adjustments throughout the year? Or are you committed to mailing the same number of pieces to the same zip codes throughout the entire campaign? How much time will you save with a full-service vendor? Maybe you don’t need full service. But matching your needs with a vendor that meets your requirements allows you to maximize results. That’s why choosing a vendor who provides the best price—but not the best value or return on investment— is Deadly Sin #7 in nonprofit fundraising. GUILTY OF THESE SINS? Luckily for you, it is not the end. In order to save your fundraising efforts, you must assess your current vendor and strategies. Talk to one of our specialists today to recieve a free consultation on your fundraising efforts. http://www.haines.com/contact-us/ MEET THE AUTHOR Greg Palya obtained a MBA in marketing at Walsh University in August of 2015. He is the marketing manager at Haines. Previously being in nonprofit sales, he understands organizational needs and issues that arise with fundraising. He is currently developing tools to help the Haines sales team make our nonprofit clients more successful.