Wendy Marinaccio Husman of Mal Warwick | Donordigital and Jeanne Horne of No Kid Hungry's #Bridge14 conference presentation about nonprofit monthly giving programs.
Richard van der Velde, Technical Support Lead for Cookiebot @CMP – “Artificia...
Monthly giving programs for sustaining donations 'As Time Goes By'
1. Play It Again, Sam
Monthly Giving Programs for
Sustaining Donations ‘As Time Goes By’
Jeanne Horne, Share Our Strength
Wendy Marinaccio Husman, Donordigital
#Bridge14
3. @donordigital @nokidhungry @wendymarinaccio #Bridge14
Share Our Strength
Jeanne Horne
Senior Manager, Digital Communications
Share Our Strength
200 employees, HQ in DC
No Kid Hungry campaign is ending childhood hunger
Feeding kids where they live, learn and play
5. @donordigital @nokidhungry @wendymarinaccio #Bridge14
Mal Warwick | Donordigital
Wendy Marinaccio Husman
Senior Account Executive
Donordigital
Integrated, multi-channel strategy
High-level and granular analysis
Full copywriting and design creative service
Production and management services
6. @donordigital @nokidhungry @wendymarinaccio #Bridge14
Why Monthly Giving Rules!
Revenue you can count on
Efforts compound over time
Increase donor lifetime value
No need to renew
Planned giving prospect pool
Donor preference to “set it & forget it”
9. @donordigital @nokidhungry @wendymarinaccio #Bridge14
The Hunger Core History
2011 & prior
Launch $10,000/month
Under 500 members
Checkbox on donation form
Dr. Oz
2012
Added name and logo
Hunger Hits Home (Food Network)
Added donor benefits
2013
Added ask to renewal campaign
Monthly donor upsell light-box
Targeted “Blitz” campaign
Monthly Donor Task Force formed
2014
Online advertising campaign
Repeated the Blitz campaign
More frequent asks
23. @donordigital @nokidhungry @wendymarinaccio #Bridge14
Dedicated campaign: smaller org
Components:
2 email messages
Home page feature
Facebook post
Improve donation form prior to
campaign
All efforts tracked
No segmentation
25. @donordigital @nokidhungry @wendymarinaccio #Bridge14
In the mail
Current donors
Mailed appeal – on the response form (organic)
Mailed appeal – dedicated sustainer ask
Monthly newsletter bangtail
Welcome package to new donors
32. @donordigital @nokidhungry @wendymarinaccio #Bridge14
Telefunding
Phones are the #1 offline recruitment channel
Target audiences
Get people on the phone as soon as they make a
gift; convert right away
Donors HPC $25-99 with 2+ gifts
Email in support of the ask
34. @donordigital @nokidhungry @wendymarinaccio #Bridge14
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
1000
1200
1400
1600
1800
2000
2200
2400
2600
2800
April '13 May '13 June '13 July '13 August '13 September
'13
October '13 November
'13
December
'13
January '14 February '14 March '14 April '14
Monthly Gifts New Monthly Gifts
New Monthly Donations
36. @donordigital @nokidhungry @wendymarinaccio #Bridge14
Ask for more
Invite monthly donors to upgrade their gift
Specific upgrade amount
Method to not duplicate monthly gift
Get the data right
40. @donordigital @nokidhungry @wendymarinaccio #Bridge14
We want you back
Re-join attempts
Triggered email series
Annual receipt with lapsed member postcard
Telefund
Track re-acquired donors
Back in the regular communications flow
Email and mail mentions they are a former monthly
donor
Online ads
48. @donordigital @nokidhungry @wendymarinaccio #Bridge14
Communications Calendar
Suppress?
Email Content Sender Scheduled
Launch
Date
Day of Week Notes Email Type Hunger Core
DNM = Do not mail
March 2014
School Breakfast 1 Lindsey Spindle 3/4/2014 Tuesday Bake Sale Cultivation DNM
School Breakfast 2: Tuesday send Billy Shore 3/11/2014 Tuesday Day of test Appeal DNM
School Breakfast 2: Wednesday
send
Billy Shore 3/12/2014 Wednesday Day of test Appeal DNM
Lightbox is live 3/17/2014 Monday
HC 1: Quiz - Any registered Team NKH 3/18/2014 Tuesday Hunger Quiz Cultivation DNM
HC 1: Quiz - HC Team NKH 3/18/2014 Tuesday Hunger Quiz Cultivation SEND
Integrated DM Renewal #2 3/20/2014 Thursday Renewal - 2nd reminder Appeal DNM
HC 2: Campaign Update: Actives,
Donors
Tom Nelson 3/25/2014 Tuesday State bullets. No subline test for donor segmentAppeal DNM
HC 2: Campaign Update: Inactives Tom Nelson 3/27/2014 Thursday State bullets. Subject line test for non-donorsAppeal DNM
HC 2: Campaign Update: HC
Upgrade
Tom Nelson 3/27/2014 Thursday State bullets. No subline test for donor segmentAppeal SEND
April 2014
HC 3: Advo: Actives, Donors Jeff Bridges 4/1/2014 Tuesday Advo on breakfast programs Advo SEND
HC 3: Advo: Inactives Jeff Bridges 4/3/2014 Thursday Advo on breakfast programs Advo SEND
49. @donordigital @nokidhungry @wendymarinaccio #Bridge14
Stop-loss
Credit card expiration
Donor services number easily accessible
Staff member check for expired cards
Triggered email series for upcoming expirations
Website forms
Mail
Phone
Other card issues
Similar strategies for lost or stolen cards
54. @donordigital @nokidhungry @wendymarinaccio #Bridge14
2013 Online Giving
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
January February March April May June July August September October November December
One Time Sustainer
59. @donordigital @nokidhungry @wendymarinaccio #Bridge14
Response significance
Ensure your tests have a statistically
significant response
90% confidence indicates a 10% chance the
result is not significant; best to be at 95%+
Use our calculator:
http://malwarwick.com/response-significance-
calculator/
61. @donordigital @nokidhungry @wendymarinaccio #Bridge14
Take-aways for large programs
Spend as much time on retention and stop-
loss as on recruitment
Ask current monthly donors to upgrade
Integrate your fundraising across channels
62. @donordigital @nokidhungry @wendymarinaccio #Bridge14
Take-aways for small programs
Improve best practices throughout your
fundraising
Create a dedicated monthly giving donation
form
Ensure processes/staff resources are in place
Keep a long view
65. …but you can call us anytime!
Wendy Marinaccio Husman Jeanne
Horne
wendy@donordigital.com
jhorne@strength.org
(510) 473-0366 (202) 649-4341
Don’t forget to visit the
Solutions Showcase!
Many of the ideas discussed today are on
display at the
Solutions Showcase!#Bridge14
www.donordigital.com
@donordigital
@wendymarinaccio
Notas del editor
Let’s break some myths.
In Casablanca ---the words “Play It Again Sam” never appeared in the film, and the words “Here’s lookin’ at you, kid” weren’t in the original script…
we’re going to share with you some lesser-known fun facts and information about monthly giving programs today.
First we’ll tell you a little bit about who we are.
Working together with partners, private citizens, government officials, and business leaders to provide solutions in communities across America to connect kids to effective nutrition programs like school breakfast and summer meals.
And educating and empowering low-income families to stretch their food budgets so kids get healthy meals at home too.
Since the NKH campaign launched, we have connected kids in need with more than 107 million additional meals - - that’s like lining up cafeteria trays across the country 10x.
Integrated fundraising agency, Mal Warwick Donordigital, in business for over 30 years, since 1979; Donordigital in business 15 years. Offices in DC and Berkeley, CA. Direct mail, online, telephone, mobile, and social marketing fundraising and advocacy. B Corp, certified green & socially responsible.
.
Let’s make sure you’re in the right place.
For SOS, 86% of monthly gift revenue in 2014 originated in 2013 and prior
For Share Our Strength, value of a sustainer:
2011: $360.31
2012: $371.34
2013: $201.39
That’s even higher than research done by Network for Good which listed sustainer lifetime value at $156 (Wendy needs to double check that number)
So…If you want to create or improve your monthly giving fundraising program, you have come to the right session. You will hopefully find some tips and tricks on what to do and what not to.
How do you encourage your donors to give monthly?
It’s easy and convenient for them, it’s helpful to you, so how do you get them to do something you know they want to do but may be intimidated to do or held back from for some reason you don’t necessarily know about.
How do you encourage people to become sustainers for your nonprofit, like Ingrid Berman encourages Sam to play “As Time Goes By” again, in this scene?
JEANNE
2011 & before:
Launch $10,000/month…under 500 members
Adding the check box to single gift form
Dr. Oz --- 600 new monthly donors (more than doubled the size)
2012:
Naming/branding ---- Hunger Core
Hunger Hits Home (Food Network movie)
Added program benefits
2013:
Added ask in renewal campaign
Targeted campaign across email, web, social
Added resource to form Monthly Donor task force
2014:
Testing Monthly ask in an Online advertising campaign
Wide inclusion in all assets: web, social media, events, direct mail
More frequent asks across all campaigns throughout the year
WENDY: A large number of new monthly donors are coming from people who land on the main donation form and decide to give monthly, called organic monthly gifts. Share % of monthly gifts across clients that are coming from gifts to the main donation form. Implementing best practices at these stages is one of the most important ways you can increase the number of monthly donors you have. The more people you can get to your website, the more people you can get to your donation page, and the more people you can get to convert on your donation form, the more monthly donors. This presentation isn’t about best practices for those things but Donordigital does that for our clients and I love giving free advice, so if you’d like to talk more about that please get in touch with me! Here’s the No Kid Hungry home page, with the donate button at top right and another Donate button prominently featured above the fold on the home page. In addition, one of the features in the home page rotator is dedicated to monthly giving.
WENDY: A large number of new monthly donors are coming from people who land on the main donation form and decide to give monthly, called organic monthly gifts. Share % of monthly gifts across clients that are coming from gifts to the main donation form. Implementing best practices at these stages is one of the most important ways you can increase the number of monthly donors you have. The more people you can get to your website, the more people you can get to your donation page, and the more people you can get to convert on your donation form, the more monthly donors. This presentation isn’t about best practices for those things but Donordigital does that for our clients and I love giving free advice, so if you’d like to talk more about that please get in touch with me! Here’s the No Kid Hungry home page, with the donate button at top right and another Donate button prominently featured above the fold on the home page. In addition, one of the features in the home page rotator is dedicated to monthly giving.
JEANNE: We redesigned out website a bit to make it easier for people to engage with us quickly.
We’ve made monthly giving more visible in a few ways:
We have the monthly ask in the Dynamic Lead/Carousel
what you cannot see now is the last item on the tool bar, GIVE.
In the drop down in the template in top right corner.
Some info in the first 30 days of the live home page – from the drop down in the top right corner:
One time – 785 clicks
Monthly – 694 clicks
We will be able to track conversion rates moving forward
Compared to 686 clicks on the Donate button below the watermelon boy.
Aside also for comparison – ‘Join’ got 887 clicks and ‘Act’ got 908. So our monthly option in the drop down is compelling and really right in line with other engagement on this home page so far.
JEANNE:
GIVE section, where Monthly Giving is the first option and is also featured below. When people click on these options they are taken directly to a monthly giving-specific page that have been annually tested and optimized.
Integrated calendar for Blitz
FB, remarketing, display
Retargeting
Display ads
Search
Site link and review extensions
Text ads
Incentive programs
Facebook Exchange
Describe CHF campaign
Earthjustice response form with monthly giving option included, SOS monthly donor invitation from April 2013, Children’s Health Fund newsletter bangtail from October 2013, PETA welcome package example
Ocean conservancy example of welcome kit sustainer ask.
Add a monthly giving buckslip into physical thank you letters for single gifts with a vanity URL for the sustainer dpage
Include monthly giving on direct mail response forms
Women For Women example
Women For Women example
Women For Women example
International Medical Corps example – small segment of low dollar donors received mail piece with sustainer ask instead of single gift ask.
The Ocean Conservancy example: welcome kit
]
- Convert them right away, when they’re feeling good about the organization
Cite the topic the donor joined on; vary the script if you have multiple acquisition packages (fur etc). Lifted pledge rates. Tested against a general ask. More conversational at the start, remind them, more personal. Treat it as a cultivation at the start.
Best case scenario is have a rolling program; monthly if their acquisition is large enough; otherwise quarterly. Send a file monthly. Conversion program in the mail; welcome kit first, 2nd mailing a sustainer ask. Call to thank, call to invite to become a sustainer. OR just call after received welcome kit.
Risk downgrading.
“Save us a call” integrated email and post-call messages; PETA hedge/refuse/missed call example emails
Notable spikes
April 2013: first Hunger Core Blitz
September 2013: NKH Month – Go Orange [Food Network: united 30 cable networks to raise $, bring in 3,150 pledge-takers, earn 114M media impressions, drive 107K visits to NoKidHungry.org, generate 1,500 tweets, and 7M social media impressions—all on one day] and month-long Dine Out [9k restaurant partners raise $$ for NKH led to 42K new pledge-takers, 3500 media hits, 43M reached in social media, emails, 662% increase in website traffic.]
March/April 2014: Hunger Core Blitz
After a monthly donor has been on the file for a time, you should attempt to upgrade their monthly gift.
They aren’t going to offer – you need to ask them. Just like some reference to Casablanca here.
Get the data right: exclude new monthly donors
Share methods for upgrades
Talk about not duplicating gifts if at all possible
Share stats on # upgrades
Sometimes monthly donors leave your file and you want to get them back, just like Rick wants Ilsa back in Casablanca.
Messages 1 month prior to credit card expiring, in month of lapsed gift, 3 months, 6 months. At 2 months after lapse, go back into regular email stream.
Lapsed member postcard & special landing page
Talk about how important tracking is and how having multiple gifts will screw things up
How keep your donors happy so they want to stay on your file, like Ilsa and Rick.
True stewardship efforts need to be integrated. To treat monthly donors like you know them, you need to know that they ARE monthly donors across channels.
Credit card issues is the biggest single method of losing monthly donors.
-Thank monthly donors with autoresponder email, monthly receipts, annual mailed receipt with decal. Now also send a welcome package with certificate.
-Quarterly branded stewardship emails. Extreme reduction in other email messages.
-Donor benefits: invite to events, invite to join leadership calls, send special reports.
- How to add benefits when you’re starting a program: see if you can add on to benefits you’re already offering. Share Our Strength added monthly donors to their leadership call for major donors. Other clients send event invitations to major donor events.
Treat your monthly donors like you know who they are - Member survey, conditional content in messages, integrated communication (you know they’re a monthly donor across communication channels) From this survey last year, learned that premiums aren’t important to people. Regular reporting is the most valuable benefit.
Regular reporting is the most valuable benefit.
Comm calendar: ensure monthly donors are getting enough communication/getting fewer appeals. Are those appeals addl gift appeals/upgrade appeals. Offer a sample of this as a download through Bridge.
Segment/suppress correctly. suppress from most appeals throughout the year & note that you know they’re a monthly donor when you do ask them.
Remember: if you don’t ask them for additional gifts, they won’t make them. But they are your best supporters.
Invite people to join with Electronic Fund Transfer instead
Survey to change your gift – email address, amount, date, allow people to pause their gift for a couple months.
PCI compliance
At SOS:
Cancellations – 25% in first month
Attrition – 5% per month (first 6 months)
-Have a dedicated phone number people can call with questions or problems.
Some people want to do it themselves. We created a place for people to go online. Trying to avoid someone entering their credit card information again, resulting in duplicate sustainer gifts on their record, which messes up reporting.
Email prior to card expiring
1,844 new monthly gifts since April ’13
Overall file grew by 200 gifts
How to make edits to your main donation form and monthly giving donation form so that everyone will be happy and inspired to spend money (like they are in this scene in Casablanca when Sam is performing)
Winning donation form from 2014 is pictured
2 rounds of testing in 2013 & 2014
Photo, benefits, add logo, add equivalency & suggested gift amount
New headline & subhead
Shorter & sharper lead copy
Increased visual emphasis on donor benefits
Increased guidance to a gift decision
2 column form field layout for less scrolling
Value proposition: when CTA involves a significant commitments, like monthly giving does, it’s essentially to counter that anxiety by highlighting the benefits of taking action. This enables the potential donors to see the benefits as greater than the costs.
Also have the trust seal at the top.
Headline: communicate the nature of the ask, reinforce the CTA language from source links. Get to the donation page and it says monthly giving at the top
Add equivalencies
Turned it into a 2-column form so you can see more of the form
Mobile optimized the form
Sad child to communicate need
Headline: improve upon just Monthly Giving and make it more active and donor focused
Add /month to the ask string, tighten equivalencies (survey research)
Tighten ask string
Tests: Subject line, sender, design, time of day, day of launch,
Watch retention rates
Channels include online: website, social, search, email – as well as offline
Best practices: Will lead to more organic monthly gifts
Best practices in SEO, SEM will lead more people to your home page
Best practices building your email house file and sending mobile optimized email
…Leading to a mobile optimized home page and donation form
Donation form taking best practices into account
Ensure monthly giving is an option on your main donation form
You will need staff resources in place to field calls, deal with expiring cards, people changing their card number, people needing to cancel.
Long view:
Set the foundation, you will see results.
You’re multiplying that multiple gift x 12
SOS stats.
$500k additional revenue since Sept, 2013
Projecting additional $350k from 2013 sustainer gifts
2010
Revenue: $67,345
Gifts: 2,142
2013
Revenue: $750,854
Gifts: 27,623
April, 2010
Revenue: $4,658
Gifts: 146
April, 2014
Revenue: $63,177
Gifts: 2,301