Events... Lots of Different Flavors

I came across an interesting article in the Sunday New York Times Generation B:  A Mover and a Shaker of Money Trees.  Billy Starr has built the Pan-Massachusetts Challenge charity bikeathon into one of the top performing "thons."   Imagine one event that raises $30 million.  That is something we all can aspire too.  Reading through, the hard work, time, energy, and effort appear to be the results of history and a well oiled machine.  It made me stop and think are there lessons from this "thon" that we can take away and apply at home.  Yes probably there are, but what do you when you have to run multiple events at multiple locations for multiple constituents?   Be organized - well that was a no brainer. 

I think the largest take away that I would offer is to capture your participant data in those who participate in any part of the "thon" - be it donor, walker/jumper/biker/reader/etc, volunteer, team member, supporter, advocate, etc.  If you have an event and you are getting new participants - make every interaction count and put forward your mission to build that organizational affinity.  Convert them from participants to donors! 

Back to Basics - Direct Marketing - MORE!

Ok - next set of tips for staying on the straight and narrow track in your direct marketing programs -  

• Establish donors' Long Term Value (LTV). Short term profitability is a thing of the past -- add LTV to your arsenal of metrics.
• Optimize your creative. Include your production specialist in the review of new test creative. They can advise and make recommendations to cut costs on expensive test packages and provide tips for rollout efficiencies.
• Tailor your content. Develop creative and messaging that is personalized to your prospect segments.
• Design a meaningful test plan. Make sure your test cells' sizes are statistically significant based on your core (control) cells for optimal readability of your results. Query your tests prior to activating your mailing.
• Test methodically. For accurate results, make sure you are only testing one element per test cell, i.e., product, message, audience. Make sure that you are testing to determine a very specific outcome, such as targeting the right message to the right audience at the right time.

Back to Basics - Direct Marketing

Lots of buzz in the office, on different blogs, in the trade papers on getting ready for the DMA Non Profit Conference in a few weeks.  Am excited to attend and see what is happening out there.  It did make stop and think - its time to get back to the basics and make sure that decisions we are making for our DM programs are grounded in some rules.  I started digging around and pulling out things to remember (thank you to those who contributed!).   Here are a few items to get started with - more to come as I continue to dig -  

• Know your audience. Creative development, selection, and segmentation cannot begin without knowing basic demographic and/or behavioral data.
• Remember the 80/20 rule. In direct marketing, 80 percent of your results come from 20 percent of your customers. Finding that 20 percent is critical to your campaign's success. 
• Focus on quality over quantity. Successful new acquisition requires targeting the most profitable prospects. Model existing donors so that you can acquire more that look like them. 
• Keep it simple. Modeling should include less than 10 to 12 key attributes. At the same time, make sure that the attributes selected are targeting the appropriate desired results -- conversion should be considered in addition to response.
• Set realistic goals. Your desired metrics should drive your mail plan, not visa versa. For example, your forecasted budget and number of prospects should help you determine your mail quantity and response requirements.

The glass - is it half full or half empy?

Historically a primary indicator of charitable giving is consumer confidence.  According to the Gallup Daily Poll, we should be looking up.  Gallup reports that over the last four weeks the mood of America's consumers has continued to improve.  Additionally Gallup has found that daily consumer spending is on the rise (even if only slightly), which is a hopeful indication that perhaps there will be a growth movement in consumer spending.  To keep up with the consumer mood check out the Gallup Daily site:  http://www.gallup.com/poll/107827/Gallup-Daily-Consumer-Mood.aspx.

 Be ready!    Take a look at your file and pay close attention to trends that include:

• Look at trends in engagement.  What are your response rates?  Holding steady, recovering and increasing, looking typical based on historical activity?
• Look at average gift.  Same drill - holding steady, recovering,..???

Keep affinity alive and keep those constituents engaged with other strategies/techniques so that as consumer confidence grows and capacity rebounds your organization will be ready..

Richard is.. drinking from a glass that is half full and inching up all the time.

Back on the blog wagon!

Q1 has come and gone and I am getting back in to the blog groove.  What made me jump off and jump back on?  To tell the truth I think it was the purchase of an Iphone - I never had a Facebook account, but I got the Iphone, created an account, and now every so often I can post my status "Richard is....."  Interesting stuff - so what does this mean in the world of constituent engagement?  We as fundraisers need to continue to listen, process, and assess what our constituents are telling us and then act in a meaningful way en masse and by the ones.  Our constituents seem to expect no less.  As someone who is passionate about several causes, I am going to begin to engage with them a little more deeply and report out on how they engage with me.  

 For the time being "Richard is... blogging"

Busy week, but.....

Productive!  I had some interesting visits with a large direct marketing agency and was fortunate enough to get to participate as an observer in a Target Analytics Benchmarking group.  Not surprisingly both groups talked about the economy and had some interesting observations - common sense - but good reminders to get back to the basics of fundraising. Similar advice that can be applied to all.

• Don't not make the ask in these tough economic times - instead make an ask that is appropriate. 

Best example I heard on this was that major gift officers are holding back on making asks, but are not replacing them with an annual fund type of contribution or reconfiguring the ask to reflect what an endowment would have paid out, etc. Seems easy, but really challenges orgs to continue to look at their constituents in a more holistic way and to leverage everything they have got to create the ask (at whatever level) that makes sense with the right kind of fulfillment strategy (monthly giving, pledge, etc.).

 That's it for a Friday afternoon towards the end of the year! 

The begining entry for.....Blogging – Welcome to the Geiger Counter

I have been with Blackbaud for six plus years and in the nonprofit space for fifteen years plus.  During my travels, I get to meet and work on the front line with lots of different types of fundraisers, marketers, advancement services teams, technologists, strategy agencies, and industry partners.  It’s interesting work!

Over the past few weeks I have been out to visit several customers and have gotten to participate in the annual Blackbaud conference in Philanthropy.  The one question that seems to be on everyone’s mind and folks are chatting about – what is going to happen with the economy.  The idea of doing more with less rings true.  What’s different about it this year?  Perhaps how the question is answered – typically we hear – tighten the belt on overhead, change in fundraising strategy, etc.  One of things that I would put forward is to think about making every constituent interaction count.

What does that mean?

• Collect pertinent data every time you connect whether it be an outgoing touch or a constituent calling in.  What do you need to know to best segment your constituent s into groups that they relate to?
• Invest in the transaction. Make sure to tailor the process and the message for the group. The investment in a deeper segmentation needs to be maximized by the investment of what you are messaging to them.
• Strengthen your ties.  Remember to say thank you – thank you for being a long standing member, thank you for your participation, etc.-  it’s not always about the ask