How to grow your monthly donor program beyond the first year

Erica Waasdorp
Katie Valvo
How to grow
your monthly
donor
program
beyond the
first year
Erica Waasdorp
•
•
•
•
•
Philanthropoholic
President A Direct Solution
Raised $$$$ with monthly giving
Wrote the book
Monthly donor
Katie Valvo
•
•
•
•
Associate Director, Monthly Giving
Acquisition Background
Face-to-Face Fundraising
Fanatic Monthly Donor/Subscriber
Growing your Program to
GREATER
Give Thanks and Involve
Retain and Reactivate
Elevate (upgrade)
Acquire
Test
EFT
Reporting
Growing your Program to
GREATER
Give Thanks and Involve
Preferred Recognition by Donors
Source: Penelope Burk Donor Survey
Welcome- Offline
Welcome - Offline
Welcome - Online
Conservation Champion Branded Thank you/Welcome Video – Auto
Responder
Welcome – Online Video
http://www.nature.org/membership-giving/donation/monthlygiving/conservation-champion-video.xml?src=e.auto_d&lu=4344283
Branded Appeals
Most Successful Appeals @
Peak Times of Year
• Response aligned
with balance of
audience;
• Avg Gift
significantly
higher than those
in similar MRC
groups;
• Branded Offers
Recognize in Appeals
Monthly Donors Who Give
Additional Gifts When Asked
57%
Other ways to recognize
Thank you calls
Version of donor appeal
Version of email
Annual report and events
Newsletter
Testimonials
Keep Communicating!
Growing your program to
GREATER
Retain and Reactivate
III. Retain and Reactivate
“Retention is the new acquisition.
Customer service is the new
marketing”
- Joe Connelly
NO End Date EVER!
January 27, 2015
Improve Donor Service
Prevent Lapsing
Before card expires
Telephone
Email
Letter
As soon as possible!
Account updater/recycling
Recovery (Acct updater/Recycling)
Source: Vantiv
Pick Up the Phone!
Prevent lapsers
Survey
Coverage Ratio
New + Reactivated
________________
Lapsed
>1
Growing your Program to
GREATER
Elevate (upgrade)
Current average gifts
Sample Upgrade Ask
IF Monthly Gift > =6
INCREASE1 = 2
INCREASE2 = 5
INCREASE3 = 7
Most successful
Upgrade During Conversion
Again, thank you so much! As you know, rapid
development is one of the biggest threats to wildlife
habitat and our forests, rivers and coasts. In fact, here in
the U.S. we are losing 1.5 million acres of land to
development EACH YEAR!
That’s why we’re on-the-ground in places where
development is the #1 danger, like the Sierra Nevadas
where we’re working to protect 188,000 priority acres.
Would you be willing to add $_______to your gift today
to help fund these and other programs?
Upgrade Results
Descr.
# of appeals Pledge
Resp. rate
Avg.
monthly
upgrade
Annual gross
new
DM
10,000
3.86%
$8.00
$7,526
TM
2,176
24.03%
$5.08
$10,471
Growing your Program to
GREATER
Acquire
Acquisition
1. Expand existing program
2. Add additional program
Monthly Giving Front and Center
Make it easy
First option
Add additional media
Challenge and urgency
Testimonials
On Home Page
Online
One Page
Last Chance Light Box
Easy to Find
First Option
Challenge, Goal and Deadline
Another Type of Challenge
Use email
Welcome Email
Mobile
Google Adwords
Branded Web Ads
Crowd Funding & Social Sites
Don’t Give Up Control
Direct Mail
Welcome Pack and Thank Yous
Example Welcome Message
Thank you so much for your gift of xx$mrgxx to [name of
organization]!
[Focus on why the gift is important for you and the impact
it’s making on the people/animals/mission you serve].
That’s why I’d like to invite you to join a privileged group
of special supporters, called [name of program].
[Focus on benefits and ease of program for donor]
Initial Gift and Response Relate
One Time
Response
Description
rate
New $5-$14.99
4.6%
New $15-$24.99
4.5%
New $25+
4.4%
Average gift
$
10.77
$
16.60
$
24.49
Monthly
Response
rate
1.4%
1.6%
2.0%
Average gift
$ 8.38
$ 10.42
$ 13.31
Front and Center on Reply
Telemarketing
Target by Payment Type
Descr.
# of
calls
# MGs
Resp.
rate
Avg. gift
Annual
gross
% on CC
Previous
CC gift
2,530
354
13.99%
$8.56
$36,362
18.4%
NO
previous
CC gift
24,834
2,234
9.00%
$8.23
$220,629 6.49%
Face-to-Face Fundraising
Program Objectives:
Reach a larger/diverse audience
• 61K Donors Acquired to-date
• 37 - Avg age of canvass acquired donors
Generate more monthly donors
• 22K Monthly Donors Acquired to-date
Creative
Welcome
Add
Additional
Program
Results TM Cross Sell
Segment
# of calls
Existing EFT 2,233
MGs
Existing CC 736
MGs
22.39%
Avg
monthly
gift
$7.27
20.79%
$7.63
$1,167
Non MGs
7.86%
$6.74
$8,232
6,476
% resp.
Annualized
$3,635
Growing your Program to
GREATER
Test
Appeal
Premium
Ask Amount (Telemarketing)
Segment
# of calls
Control ask 2,704
($7)
10.58%
Avg
monthly
gift
$7.60
Test ask
($10)
7.82%
$9.99
2,748
% resp.
Annualized
$2,148
$2,175
Growing your Program to
GREATER
EFT
Offer EFT Online
Add Form on Web
Add Option on Reply
Convert Pledge Reminders
Growing your Program to
GREATER
Reporting
ROI
Look for Opportunity!
2/24/2015
74
Calculate Long Term Revenue
Join
Year
Monthly
Type
2005Bank
2005Credit Card
Number
joined
Total Gifts Total Monthly
Per Monthly Gifts Per
donor
Monthly donor
1,084
$936
$772
757
$628
$449
Annualize Results
Monthly
Donors
Source
# of monthly Average gift
donors
acquired
Average
Yearly
Gift
First year
Cume
Totals
170
$120
$20,400
$10
Calculate Coverage Ratio
New + Reactivated
________________
Lapsed
>1
"Go the extra mile. It's
never crowded."
~ Author Unknown
Thank you!
Erica Waasdorp
President, A Direct Solution
www.adirectsolution.com
508 428 4753
erica@adirectsolution.com
facebook.com/ewaasdorp
@ericawaasdorp
Erica Waasdorp
Thank you!
Katie Valvo
Associate Director, Monthly Giving
Nature.org/champions
703.946.5451
kvalvo@tnc.org
Katie Valvo
Bonus: A Monthly Giving Video
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_quer
y=saturday+night+live+cents