Multichannel Campaigns of the Year: PFAW, Christian Appalachian Project

By Margaret Battistelli Gardner

GOLD AWARD
People for the American Way
Early Renewal: 2012 Election Head Start
Submitted by Chapman Cubine Adams + Hussey

The Numbers
Number of Recipients: 70,919
Response Rate: 6.68 percent
Total Cost: $25,877
Income Generated: $354,957
Average Gift: $61.12
Cost to Raise a Dollar: $0.07

With the 2012 election looming on the horizon, PFAW was under pressure to renew as many supporters as early as possible to gear up for the coming election year. The organization sent e-mails to all current donors and all online nondonor activists, as well as mail pieces to its entire donor universe, using slightly different language for each.

Our judges liked that the appeals were simple and straightforward with no special bells and whistles. They kick off with a punch — a reminder that “The 2012 election may be one of the most important in modern history, so much is at stake.” And after a short explanation why that’s so, the copy includes the donor by asking a “major favor: Will you renew your 2012 PFAW membership early, to provide our organization with the financial boost necessary to get our campaign under way?”

“2011 was the first time PFAW ever ran an early renewal campaign,” wrote CCAH’s Lon Chapman. “It doubled its online response rate, renewed 604 members and attracted 1,332 new members.”

The donor group also had an amazing average response rate of 1.75 percent, more than three times its usual response rate to special appeals.

GOLD AWARD
Christian Appalachian Project
Summer Hunger Campaign
Submitted by CDR Fundraising Group

The Numbers
Number of Recipients: 303,445
Response Rate: 7.15 percent
Total Cost: $263,439
Income Generated: $805,107
Average Gift: $37.09
Cost to Raise a Dollar: $0.33

Our judges were really thrilled with the results of this package, which underscore the value of a well-structured multichannel appeal. According to CDR’s Alisdair Sewell, “The results far exceeded our team’s expectations.”

“As an example,” he wrote, “the direct-mail portion raised nearly $718,000, and the telemarketing portion alone more than doubled the projected net income ($28,953 actual vs. $13,633 projected).”

The campaign utilized direct mail, e-mail, online and telemarketing. The audience for the direct-mail portion was a broad select from zero-72 months, singles and multis, $0.01 to $250; the e-mail audience included the full e-mail database; and the telemarketing was focused on nonresponders to direct mail one month after the initial mail date from selected RFM segments.

Throughout all of the components, solid storytelling and strong images were key. The photos of the children in need were simple yet heart-tugging close-ups of faces. And the copy brought donors right into the solution by telling them exactly what their donations would accomplish.

SILVER AWARD
Northeast Animal Shelter
Emergency Response Campaign
Submitted by SankyNet

The Numbers
Number of Recipients: 106,813
Response Rate: 2.63 percent
Total Cost: $12,525
Income Generated: $93,991
Average Gift: $33.34
Cost to Raise a Dollar: $0.13

What happens when people and their pets get displaced? They head to other regions, such as New England. That was the case for Northeast Animal Shelter, which found itself transporting many displaced animals to its own shelter when tornadoes hit the South to find them loving homes.

In order to take on the increased load, NAC needed the funds to accommodate it. “Because their emergency resources were taxed by this effort, we quickly created integrated e-mail and direct-mail appeals designed to launch and mail out quickly and convey urgent need for support,” wrote SankyNet’s Paul Habig.

The result was a consistent multichannel campaign that used an image of the same dog and was broadcast out across the Web, e-mail, mobile and direct mail. In just a month and a half, the campaign brought in nearly $94,000, showing the power a consistent message and cute puppy face can have. “In each case, the results showed that a simple design can be the most powerful when communicating an urgent situation,” Habig wrote.

SILVER AWARD
Central Park Conservancy
2011 Halloween Storm
Fundraising Campaign
Submitted by Central Park Conservancy

The Numbers
Number of Recipients: *
Response Rate: *
Total Cost: $12,326
Income Generated: $176,883
Average Gift: $115,69
Cost to Raise a Dollar: $0.07

When an unexpected snowstorm damaged nearly half of New York’s 843-acre Central Park on Halloween, CPC had a big fundraising task ahead. The conservancy “was responsible for raising 85 percent of the $42.4 million needed to care for Central Park,” wrote CPC’s Jordan Jacuzzi, “but there was no contingency fund for a storm of this magnitude.”

So CPC reached out to its donors and fellow New Yorkers immediately following the Halloween storm with an integrated, multichannel fundraising campaign. The online fundraising components included a homepage slide, which scrolled an ad directing visitors to a dedicated Halloween storm donation form; the dedicated donation page specifically for the emergency campaign; a dedicated Web page with information and news on the storm clean-up, including direct links to the donation page; as well as e-mails and e-newsletter blasts. All that coincided with a simple emergency direct-mail piece to CPC’s general membership file.

The results speak for themselves, with 737 total gifts equalling $88,565 coming in online and another $88,318 coming in via direct mail.

“For fundraising in only two media channels — [online and direct mail] — with campaign implementation facilitated within weeks of the disaster striking, the Central Park Conservancy is very pleased with the response of the Halloween storm campaign,” Jacuzzi wrote.

Judge Paul Bobnak agreed: “Amazing results! The direct-mail component is simple but very effective.”