SMS / Mobile giving case study

(from my original post at Marts & Lundy)

In a recent discussion at the CASE Social Media & Community conference, the discussion entitled Future Trends in Social Media identified mobile/text/SMS giving was identified as the topic likely to gain the most in attention and importance before next year’s conference. In the course of the discussion, ideas were considered for how this might work within higher education, but actual examples are difficult to find.

In order to provide a concrete example, I contacted my colleague Howard Heevner at the University of California, Santa Cruz, with whom I have worked on numerous occasions. This past February, while Howard was director of annual giving there, Penn State embarked on its first SMS campaign for its Dance Marathon event. “THON” is the world’s largest student-run philanthropy and raises significant funds to fight pediatric cancer and support those impacted by the disease. The 2011 edition generated over $9.5M in gifts.

So how did the SMS portion of the fundraising perform? Download the full report in our special reports section.

1 Month = 6,000 Donors = 17% of Those Solicited. Really?

(from a post by Kathy Howrigan @ my firm, Marts & Lundy)

Really. In a recent #fundchat Twitter chat, the topic of multi-channel marketing came up. I mentioned that when I was at Dartmouth College, we did a “challenge” integrating messages from direct mail, phonathon, e-mails, volunteer managers, and anyone else who would talk about it. It was hugely successful, totally exceeding our expectations, so Dan Blakemore asked me to elaborate a little bit — hence my first guest blog post. (We are republishing the blog here in case you missed it at danblakemore.org.)

Sylvia Racca, Executive Director of the Dartmouth College Fund, and I designed the challenge (but it was her idea). I debated sharing the theme and messaging we used for the challenge in this blog post, but as I worked through it, I realized it would be way too long. Anyone who is interested should feel free to contact me for more information.

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The goal: The Dartmouth College Fund’s participation goal for fiscal year 2006 was 50 percent. In February, we realized that we were behind the curve to hit 50%, especially in bringing lapsed donors back on board. To reach this milestone, the Fund needed to increase the number of lapsed donors significantly in the months of April, May and June over previous years. To help achieve our goal, we created “The April Challenge.” More specifically, our goal was to get 4,000 alumni to give in the month of April (note that the record at the time for April donors was less than 2,400).

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The strategy: A “challenge.” Find some leadership donors who would offer to give X dollars per Y donors – no matter the size of the gift.

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The plan: Four alumni challenged the Dartmouth College Fund to bring in gifts from 4,000 donors in April. At each 1,000 donor benchmark, each donor would give the Fund $25,000 (up to $100,000 each).

Because we were concerned that the challenge would only cause regular donors to give earlier in the year – in April and not June (which would get us to our challenge goal but not to 50 percent), we wanted to develop a segmentation strategy for lapsed donors. We knew we needed to do well in these categories. We set goals by solicitation strategy (direct mail, phonathon and volunteer solicitation) and by giving segment (last year donors, one year lapsed, two year lapsed, three year lapsed, four year lapsed, five year plus lapsed and never givers), and used these goals to develop the marketing plan. These goals were applied specifically to each channel as well, and closely monitored all month.
The marketing plan included a direct mail piece sent to 33,424 non-donors, inserts for pledge reminders distributed during April, customized scripts for the student phonathon callers, five e-mail solicitations directing non-donors to our website to make an online gift, and communication with our volunteers. A special webpage, which included a “thermometer” tracking progress towards the challenge goal, was created and promoted through the e-mails, student callers, and on the main webpage.

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The results: The April Challenge final cash donor count for April 2006 was 6,031 donors. The previous record for the month of April was 2,379 donors.

• In the end, we did well in all segments, including LYBUNTs, but it was recapturing lapsed donors that pushed us over the top.


• 1,199 alumni made a gift for the first time in several years and 370 were first-time donors.


• The student phonathon brought in a total of 2,058 donors, 121 percent of our goal.


• Volunteer teams and direct mail donors equaled 3,973, 192 percent of our goal.


• The DCF online giving site saw tremendous activity during the month of April. The number of online gifts increased with each e-mail solicitation sent. The first e-mail solicitation sent on April 4 resulted in 92 gifts in one day, while the last e-mail sent on Friday, April 28 resulted in a total of 555 gifts from Friday – Sunday.


• Including the challengers, the April Challenge raised more than 3.8 million dollars.

The Dartmouth College Fund achieved its ultimate goal of 50 percent participation with a final result of 50.8 percent alumni participation. The success of the April Challenge enabled us to reach this milestone.

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Most surprising finding: I was most surprised by the e-mail responses — keep in mind that we were e-mailing the SAME PEOPLE! So the 260 donors on April 28th were replying to their FIFTH e-mail solicitation.

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Why I think The April Challenge was successful:

• It was metric-driven, with desired metrics informing the strategies.


• Clear and consistent messaging across all channels.


• The use of all channels – one direct mail piece and two e-mails would not have been enough.


• We provided feedback via callers, volunteers and in e-mails on a regular basis.


• There was a clear deadline.

Notice that I didn’t list the challenge funds as one of the factors that made the challenge successful. While this is obviously critical for any challenge, finding donor/s willing to make a significant gift is not enough. The key is to be thoughtful, strategic, integrated and purposeful in how to use that generous contribution.

Free Webinar 2/22: Common Social Media Mistakes & How To Avoid Them

Quick heads up on a webinar I'm giving on Feb 22 @ 1:00 Eastern:

Common Social Media Mistakes, Misconceptions & Missed Opportunites:

This one-hour (including Q&A session) webinar will examine 5 mistakes, 5 misconceptions & 5 missed opportunities for nonprofits' work with social media AND how to turn these around into positive aspects of your social strategy. Not only would I welcome your attendance, I encourage feedback, questions, etc. - If you have any best practice with your institution you would like included in the highlights or follow-up material, let me know. There's quite a bit in the presentation already, but I'm always happy to add more as appropriate.

For more visit: http://martsandlundy.com/webinar.php

Save The Children's Groupon Experiment

In December, Save The Children (web / Facebook / Twitter / Flickr / YouTube) took the concept of a challenge match for giving on to a new platform for an appeal - the fast-growing Groupon. In case you have missed the explosion of Groupon, it is a deal-a-day site based on harnessing collective buying power for a lower price. For example, Widgets, Inc. may offer to sell their 2011 Widget for $14, when it is normally $20. However, they will only offer the discount if they get 125 people to sign-up for the deal. In theory, this is a win-win... consumers get a price break on something they desire and businesses know that they will only be offering the lower price if they can make up for it in sales volume.

Back to Save The Children... STC had a group willing to fund a challenge gift and agreed to match up to $225,000 of gifts. Rather than send a typical email or mailing about the challenge or ramp up phone calls, STC partnered with Groupon to offer a "discount" on giving - You "make" a gift of $30 for only $15. In order for the deal to kick-in, 200 people had to sign up for the gift. They easily surpassed that total and secured 1,953 pledges to give.

While in many ways, you can consider this campaign a success for the exposure Save The Children received, I was curious whether or not STC considered this a success. Particularly when you consider fulfillment. If 100% of the pledges were fulfilled, which is obviously unlikely, only $29,295 of the potential $225,000 (13%) would be secured. So with my curiosity piqued, I reached out to STC with a few brief interview questions. I am very grateful to Brian Beirne, STC's senior director for internet marketing and communications for taking the time to respond and discuss the Groupon campaign. Here are my questions to STC with Brian's response below:

1) When & how did the idea for partnering with Groupon come along?
2) How did you market the opportunity?
3) Will you continue to use Groupon going forward for donor challenge gifts?
4) Are there any changes you would make if you could redo the campaign?
5) What are your plans to keep the Groupon donors and increase their giving in the future?

We are constantly exploring new ways to get our message out and reach new donors. Noting the considerable press coverage Groupon received during the late Summer of 2010, we first reached out to them in October of last year about a possible partnership. Fortunately for us and for children around the world, Groupon is a very philanthropic organization, founded in fact originally to fund charitable projects as a site called The Point.

In order to offer the discount to Groupon customers, we secured a matching offer from a small group of anonymous donors who agreed to match every dollar raised through the Groupon deal with another dollar. This enabled us to offer a $30 donation for only $15. We communicated the Groupon deal primarily through our social channels, posting it on our Facebook page and Tweeting updates throughout the course of the promotion.

Groupon customers who participated in this promotion have until March 31, 2011 to register their Groupon with Save the Children and opt in to receive future communications from us. Upon registration, a personalized thank you email is sent to the donor. To date, around 30% of participants have registered, and 90% of those are new donors. The deal was only made available to Groupon’s subscribers based in the US. A full analysis will be performed once the registration period ends, but we are very pleased with the early indicators.

There are several options we are considering for future promotions to try and build on this success, including a choice of price points and funding for specific projects and programs – we want to be able to offer the donor as much choice and flexibility as possible. Groupon has a very active and engaged user base, which skews younger than our average donor profile. To be able to engage this group in a fun, innovative way, and to give them the opportunity to help create positive change for children in need in the US and around the world, is a win-win for all involved.

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UPDATE: One thing I forgot to mention - Kudos to STC for trying such a unique approach to fundraising!

USPS Rate Increase News

FYI to fundraisers that use direct mail... quick info on postage rate increase from USPS, courtesy of friends at Diamond Marketing Solutions:

The USPS announced (January 13) that they plan to increase rates on April 17, not in May as previously expected.

The increase will average 1.7%, but we expect significant variations by rate category. You will need to check the changes for the specific categories you use to determine the impact on your budget. We hope to have comparisons by rate category shortly and will publish them as soon as they are available.

Postmaster General Pat Donahoe told a group of mailing industry executives this morning that the Postal Service is filing their rate increase request with the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) this afternoon. The PRC must approve the rates, but their approval is limited to determining that the proposed rates do not exceed the CPI rate cap (currently 1.7%) mandated by law.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user katmere.

Sam Adams, Whole Foods & Your Donors

I was really struck by a recent post by the awesome Jeff Espositto (web / Twitter / YouTube). In the post, Jeff describes an experience he had searching for a rare Sam Adams brew and how his network, Twitter and Whole Foods came together to save him from going without the new brew. Aside from my love for quality craft brews, I found Jeff's takeaways from the experience worth sharing Through Nonprofit Eyes:

From Jeff's post:

A few weeks ago, I attended the Sam Adams unveiling of their new beer Infinium and ever since have been looking to get my hands on a bottle or two. After striking out a few times at my favorite stores, I shot out a tweet asking if anyone had any insight into stores with the elusive beer in stock. Soon after I received this Tweet from someone who I have never met, but am grateful for:

Shortly after, Jeff received the following from @WholeFoodsRVR:

Talk about listening and taking care of your customers! As Jeff went on to say, he normally wouldn't have shopped at Whole Foods, but did so because of their quick response. They literally gained a customer through being responsive on Twitter. Here are Jeff's takeaways, with my input for a nonprofit perspective:

• Grow big ears - I can't count the number of times a potential or former donor has been confused or misinformed about something at a nonprofit and, therefore, has decided not to make a contribution in the future. Every time you see the opportunity to correct misconceptions about your nonprofit, you have the chance to sway someone to "your side" and remove one barrier to giving.
• Treat every referral as a potential sale, even if it doesn't look like a large win - This one goes out to all the major gift officers. Some of you are great at this, some of you are terrible at it. In many organizations if the annual giving moves a donor through various gift levels, the donor "qualifies" as a major gift prospect and is shuffled on to a gift officer's portfolio. So on one day the prospect is at the top of the annual giving prospect list. The next day, the prospect is at the bottom of a major gift prospect list. If you're the gift officer and cannot take this relationship to the next level - say so!!! It's okay if you have too many bigger donors/prospects to work with, but it's not okay to ignore this group and let them slip into "midrange donor purgatory."
• Go above and beyond - This always goes a long way with donors, particularly if they feel like they are "only" a small contributor. Think of a time a restaurant treated you better than you ever would have anticipated... Have you gone back? I'm guessing you have. Donors can act the same way.
• Have fun with the customer - If the situation permits fun and it won't hurt your organization, don't hesitate to illustrate to donors & prospects that you are human! Novel concept, I know, but for large nonprofits in particular, prospects can feel like there's no such thing as a real human. Humor can help when it fits.
• Small niceties can turn a happy customer into an advocate - Without a doubt, this is true. When people complain to your nonprofit, it is likely because they actually care about the work you're doing. Otherwise, they probably would not take the time to complain. Therefore, being kind & owning any problems or mistakes can turn that negative passion into a positive, advocating voice for your organization.
• Keep hustling - Always. It helps to be passionate about what you do. If you find you're losing steam or not hustling, take time to reflect and figure out what's keeping you from doing so.

Thanks to Jeff for giving me the okay to piggy-back on his original post. The tweet images are from his post and the Infinium picture is from DigBoston.

The Recession: Is It Getting Better for Nonprofits?

While I still am cautious about what lies ahead for nonprofits (I am anxious this December won't bring the significant spike in giving that we have seen in years past) at least one report indicates the worst of the recession may be behind us.

The November 2010 Fundraising Survey is a collaboration between Guidestar, the National Center for Charitable Statistics (NCCS), the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP), the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, Blackbaud, and the Foundation Center.

Between October 19 & November 3, 2010, representatives of 2,356 public charities and 163 private foundations took the group's online survey. The following is a modified excerpt from Guidestar's release.

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The results are encouraging:

• The proportion of participants reporting decreased contributions dropped 14 percentage points, from 51 percent in October 2009 to 37 percent in October 2010.
• The percentage who said contributions had increased grew 13 percentage points, from 23 percent in October 2009 to 36 percent in October 2010.
• Larger organizations, those with annual expenses of $1 million or greater, were more likely to report increased contributions.
• For the eighth consecutive year, a majority (68 percent) of participants reported increased demand for their organizations' services.
• Half of the organizations represented in the survey receive the bulk of contributions during the last quarter of the year, the period known as the giving season. Of this number, 36 percent predict that contributions received during the fourth quarter of 2010 will exceed those from the last quarter of 2009, 43 percent expect end-of-year contributions to be about the same as last year, and 22 percent anticipate that end-of-year contributions will be lower.
• Nearly half (47 percent) of participants expect their organizations' budgets to increase next year.

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The last bullet is the one I find most encouraging. While giving will have its cycles, the fact half of the participants are healthy enough to predict increased budgets is great news.

What do you anticipate happening in the months and years ahead? Is the worst behind us?

Image courtesy of Guidestar.

How The Rules of Dating Apply to Your Donor Relationships, Part II

It's no secret that there are parallels between wooing a donor and a date. So how well do the rules of dating apply to your donor relationships? Here's a two-part #ThroughNonProfitEyes look at TopDatingTips.com's dating rules. Part I was about the Do's of dating and Part II dives into the Don'ts (a few of which did not have good fundraising parallels and were, therefore, excluded):

Part II: Dating Rules -- Don'ts

1. Don't call, text message or email someone you've just started seeing more than once a day unless they reply (or in the event of an emergency).

Just like a new love interest, a new donor should be treated as if they may disappear for someone better at any second. Smothering a new donor with too many appeals or emails can be a big turn-off, but so can no communication at all. Say thank you, illustrate impact, but don't ask too much too often.

2. Don't date the kind of people who've hurt you in the past.

Like in the "Do's" section, where I suggested using data models to find those most likely to support your organization, you can do the same to find those least likely to give. You can then remove them from your appeals, if you need a way to limit your costs.

3. Don't be late for a date.

A friend of mine once discussed having made gifts to her and her husband's three combined alma maters on the same day. One sent them a thank you note in less than a week, one in two weeks and one in six weeks. Don't be late with your stewardship efforts.

4. Don't lie to your date or about any aspect of your life, even if the truth isn't as sexy or you're worried they won't like it.

This should go without saying, but be honest and transparent in your communications. Imagine a donor giving to an annual fund and thinking that she is supporting student scholarships or food for a soup kitchen and later learning that the funds were actually going to fund a fancy board meeting - not the news your organization would be looking for.

5. Don't be rude or get drunk on a date.

If you do make a mistake in your constituent communications, own the error and be polite. Courtesy and manners will get you everywhere - on a date or with donors & prospects.

6. Don't give out personal information like your home phone number or address on the first date.

Okay, on this one I am actually going with the opposite - make sure your appeals, communication pieces... everything, has contact information for your organization available for the recipient.

7. Don't have sex on a first date.

I have worked with nonprofits that celebrate every gift. It is good & important to appreciate every gift. However, if you steward your $10 donors like they are $10M donors, you are going to create extremely high stewardship expectations or - worse - make the donor question your use of the charitable support. So... don't give everything you have in your stewardship toolbox away to donors right away.

How The Rules of Dating Apply to Your Donor Relationships, Part I

It's no secret that there are parallels between wooing a donor and a date. So how well do the rules of dating apply to your donor relationships? Here's a two-part #ThroughNonProfitEyes look at TopDatingTips.com's dating rules. Part I is about the Do's of dating and Part II dives into the Don'ts. Part II will be posted later this week.

Part I: Dating Rules -- Do's

1. Do try to always look your best and be punctual.

Don't be sloppy with your appeals and engagement efforts. Make sure you are double- and triple-checking your copy. If you are in a decentralized environment, swallow your pride and do everything you can to break down the silos and coordinate the timing of mailings, emails and other communications. Nothing can turn off a prospect like overlapping, clearly poorly coordinated or timed appeals and messages.

2. Do try to enjoy yourself on dates.

For a lot of nonprofit practitioners, the work of soliciting donors and prospects becomes, well... work. This is okay and understandable, but it can often blind us to the positive work our organizations do - and the joy we should feel in helping move our organizations forward.

3. Do compliment your date on how he or she looks.

Yep... complimenting your donors can go a long way to renewing them - tell them how great they are and how much it impacted your organization that they gave their time and resources to your organization, before asking for another gift.

4. Do be interested and interesting.

From the original Dating rules: "Ask questions, share insights and pay attention when your date is telling you what they like to do, read, watch, listen to, etc." This is virtually dead-on for your donor relationships. You need to ask questions (focus groups & surveys), share insights (keep your prospects & donors informed) and pay attention to what you're being told (respond to requests, apply research findings to your messaging, timing and strategies).

5. Do tell someone directly if you're not interested in seeing them again.

Okay... I'm not exactly sure how to parallel this one, to be honest. I would advise you not to tell your non-donors you want nothing to do with them.

6. Do date only people you're attracted to, no matter what your friends say.

Low on resources? Use data-modeling to find the prospects most likely to give, a.k.a. most attractive to you.

7. Do stay positive, even when dates don't end well.

If prospects ask you to be removed from your lists or appeals... or they simply reject your appeals, take the high road. Respect requests to be removed from lists, follow-up to disgruntled prospects with sincerity, and make sure you have data processes in place to ensure donor requests for communication will be honored.

8. Do plan ahead.

Almost any appeal - email, phone, mail, face-to-face, events - will be less successful if you do not plan ahead. And in most cases, your audience will be able to tell your planning was lacking.

9. Do be proactive about finding people to date.

Make sure you are putting aside time to reconsider your approach to acquiring new donors. Ask your non-donors why they don't support you. Better yet, ask your previous donors who didn't renew why they failed to do so. Look at various parts of your program and think about unique sources of prospects you haven't considered before. (Ex: University of Texas soliciting Gone With The Wind fans)

10. Do surround yourself with positive, like-minded people who are dating, too.

One of the best resources you have available to you are peers across the globe who face similar challenges. Benchmarking and peer-networks can be critical to helping you brainstorm new ideas, escape the creative vacuum of your office, and have a resource to call when faced with a challenge. Don't have any current peer connections? Conferences, community meetings and social networking can help you take the first step. If you aren't sure where to start, let me know and I will do my best to introduce you to a handful of resources.