Timely Advice: Integrate Your Year End Campaigns

by Eliza Temeles

Recently I attended the DMAW’s monthly luncheon where a packed house turned out to hear Roger Craver, Founder of DonorTrends, editor of TheAgitator.net share his insights on Integrating Your Year End Campaigns.

For most, one big lesson had to be this: when Roger Craver’s speaking, you can’t afford to miss it.

But in case you did, here are a few things to keep in mind for your year-end campaigns …

Multichannel communications are critical to successful fundraising.

You’ve probably heard this one before. But Roger presented the data to prove why multichannel communications are essential to keeping your donors …

• Direct mail donors who have an email address on file are 150% more valuable than direct mail donors without an email on file
• Email addresses shortens the time to achieving a second gift … and more than doubles the retention rates of one-time first year givers
• An SMS message following a solicitation can increase renewal rates by 25%
• Donors with email addresses give  50% more gifts per donor, and have an average gift  that is 67% higher

If you haven’t yet, it’s time to create a budget for acquiring your donor’s email addresses, mobile numbers and more. A little investment can have a huge impact on your retention rates.

Your donor has changed – and it’s your job to understand what they need.

Younger donors don’t behave like the generation that came before. Donors have changed from “tell me” generation to a “show me” generation that expects organizations to show them the impact of their support, with photos, stories, videos, conference calls and more.  And donors expect to you to listen to them, to hear their advice, concerns and opinions on your organization and your issues.

Fortunately, new communication channels are perfectly suited to engaging donors in dialogue … and an organization’s ability to retain its donors will increasingly depend on its ability to do just that.

To create strong, multichannel efforts, organizations have to change how they work.

• Good multichannel communications aren’t the sole responsibility of one department. Break down silos with interdepartmental teams empowered to create effective, multichannel campaigns.
• Follow the 75% rule. New channels won’t wait around while you craft the perfect tweet. Accept communications that are 75% perfect and 100% on time.
• Understand the ROI of each channel. Even when creating a multichannel campaign, be sure that you focus most of your time and energy on channels that have the greatest return on investment.

New technology allows us to go back to old ways of fundraising. Classic fundraising techniques still work better than anything else. 50% of donors say they were motivated to give because “a friend asked,” and fundraising emails sent by a friend have open rates of 90% (compare that to your last campaign!).

Use new channels to make your campaigns more personal, more timely, and more direct—all the elements that have always led to successful fundraising.

Do you have other great stats on the value of multichannel campaigns – or tips on smart, year-end strategies?

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Eliza Temeles is a Senior Account Executive at MKDM, a full service direct response agency committed to helping nonprofits engage donors, motivate action and inspire philanthropy. You can also catch her blogging at www.nthfactor.com.