Becoming their BCF (Best Charity Forever)
A guide for long term donor cultivation
Your BFFs Today
Matthew Mielcarek
Vice President, Creative &
Strategy Practice
Dolores McDonagh
Principal Consultant
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Why Cultivation Matters
Over the 10 years, there has been a shift in key fundraising metrics.
As many as
3 of 4
new donors
never make
another gift
Cost of
donor
acquisition
is on the
rise
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Why Cultivation Matters
Over the 10 years, there has been a shift in key fundraising metrics.
As many as
3 of 4
new donors
never make
another gift
Cost of
donor
acquisition
is on the
rise
4
Why Cultivation Matters
Over the 10 years, there has been a shift in key fundraising metrics.
As many as
3 of 4
new donors
never make
another gift
Cost of
donor
acquisition
is on the
rise
Lower ROI = reduced investment in finding new donors
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Why Cultivation Matters
•
By understanding your most
engaged supporters and
giving them the relationship
THEY want to have, you are
better positioned to stem
the “leaky bucket”
phenomenon.
6
Getting to Know Your Best Donors
•
1,022 people donating in the last 12 months
•
Participants asked how they prefer to engage
with nonprofits they support.
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How? Be the constituent’s BCF
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BCF Benefits
•
47% of donors give the majority of their
money to their BCF
•
30% of constituents fundraise for their
BCF at least once a year
•
Constituents with a BCF tended to
leverage multiple digital access points
(website, email and social media)
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How do I become the BCF?
Take Stock: Assess the current state of your organization’s assets and audience
Make It Real: Identify where your focus will be and create your strategy
Measure, Refine, Repeat: Understand what is working, adjust, and try again
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Take Stock: How good is your web site?
Where To Start:
•
Recognize the in and out doors
of your site
•
Understand how visitors move
through your site
•
Identify content types that
receive more engagement
•
Be aware of the visuals you
offer
35% of donors report visiting a
charity’s Web site from a few
times per year to daily.
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Donor Centric Web Copy
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Take Stock: Are you being social?
Where To Start:
•
Track your social metrics over
12 to 18 months to see if
spikes in engagement tie to
other marketing efforts
•
Analyze your social content to
see if it is formatted to fit the
social medium
•
Look for content that received
high engagement to identify
the best content types
54% of donors are
willing to talk to friends
and family about their
favorite organization.
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Take Stock: Are your emails working?
Where To Start:
51% of donors get
information about their
favorite charity from an
enewsletter.
•
Look back over the last 12-18
months to determine averages
for open, conversion, and
participation rates
•
Identify messages that
performed well and determine
why
•
Asses your use of automated
email series and their
effectiveness
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Welcome Series
15
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Take Stock: What message are you sending?
Where To Start:
21% of donors say they
were never thanked.
•
Analyze the content of all your
channels to be sure it includes
statements of your impact
•
Be sure you content speaks
directly to your main segments
•
Try A/B testing to identify the
best possible messages
•
Use analytics to measure the
most engaging messages
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Make Your Thank You Memorable
•
Email “thank you”
employing video
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Make Your Thank You Memorable
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Make Your Thank You Memorable
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Take Stock: Are you using all channels?
Where To Start:
•
Analyze each of your media
assets for fit on multiple
channels and devices
•
Compare the audiences for
each media channel to identify
overlaps and gaps
•
Identify any missing content
types and channels that
appeal to your audiences
13% preferred learning
about volunteering via
visiting Web site from
mobile device.
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Pulse Check
• Understanding
your Website
Traffic
• Understanding
Email
Effectiveness
• Messaging
• Leveraging Social
Media
• Multi-Channel
Which “Take Stock” Area is Your
Highest Priority Right Now?
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How do I become the BCF?
Take Stock: Assess the current state of your organization’s assets and audience
Make It Real: Identify where your focus will be and create your strategy
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Make It Real: Campaign Calendar
Today
6
Months
12
Months
18
Months
•
Start with you own organization’s calendar
•
Flag major holidays
•
Add seasonality to your engagement offers
•
Stay flexible and nimble
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Make it Real: Segmentation Example
Engagement
Level
Passive
Frequency Breadth
Recency
Once
Clicked on 2+ email
12 months
Active
Twice
Clicked on 2+ email
and took action on
engagement activity
12 months
Very Active
Three +
Clicked on 2+ email
and took action on
engagement activity
6 months
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Make It Real: Tailored Campaigns
A tailored approach will enable you to explore
how different segments are performing in terms
of acquisition, attrition, engagement, and
conversion
Email Content
Email Content
Defined
Segment
Social Content
Web Content
Defined
Segment
Web Content
Social Content
Direct Mail
Direct Mail
Email Content
Social Content
Defined
Segment
Web Content
Direct Mail
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Make It Real: Start Measuring
Succeed or Fail, Informatively
Before you do anything, know how you’re going
to measure it and what success looks like
Audience
Content Access?
Content Engagement
Conversions
# of useable postal
address
Email open and click
through rates
Web site visits
# conversions by type
# of useable email
subscribers
Social media views and
reach
Visits to conversion
pages
# conversions by channel
# of fans/followers on
each social site where
you maintain a presence
Unsubscribe rate
# of retweets and
mentions
# conversions by source
# of Facebook comments
and shares
Value of conversions by
type, channel, and
source
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How do I become the BCF?
Make It Real: Identify where your focus will be and create your strategy
Measure, Refine, Repeat: Understand what is working, adjust, and try again
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Measure, Refine, Repeat: Look Back
Periodically, step back and evaluate the
effectiveness of your efforts thus far. After all, you
established your baselines for just this comparison
•
Measure the response to
your engagement
campaigns
•
Compare to your
benchmarks to understand
growth
•
Segment the people who
responded
•
Note the characteristics of
the people who engaged
and what they engaged
with
•
Look at past behavior of
this segment alongside
past marketing efforts to
identify opportunities
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Measure, Refine, Repeat: Most/Least
Ever heard the saying, “I wish I had 10 more like him?”
Well, you have to know who he is before you can say that.
•
What does your
most engaged
segment look
like?
•
What does your
least engaged
segment look
like?
•
How do they
prefer to engage
with you?
•
How is that
different from the
most engaged?
•
How did they
evolve over time?
•
Can you affect
change on them?
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Measure, Refine, Repeat: Look Closer
Look hard to find the crosspromotional and upsell
opportunities that take
campaigns to the next level
Upsell
Cross-promote
• Ask activists to donate
• Ask donors to share
• Ask sharers to act
• One time donors to monthly
sustainers
• Event donors to event
participants
• Event participants to team
captains
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How do I become the BCF?
Take Stock: Assess the current state of your organization’s assets and audience
Make It Real: Identify where your focus will be and create your strategy
Measure, Refine, Repeat: Understand what is working, adjust, and try again
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Charity Dynamics Can Be Your BFF
Strategy and Benchmarking
Digital Donor
Engagement
Benchmarking
Digital Donor
Engagement
Strategy
Engagement
Website Design
Assessment
ECommunication
Strategy
Implementation, Execution, and Assessment
Engagement
Campaigning
Welcome Series
Implementation
Channel
Integration
Donor
Engagement
Assessment
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Questions?
Contact Information:
[email protected]
[email protected]
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