Rapid Donor Cultivation: Getting the First Online Gift Faster
As nonprofits escalate their focus on the Internet for fundraising and base-building, there is, increasingly, a recognition that the online channel can be a constituent-friendly, cost-effective means of building relationships and raising money from individuals.
New online fundraising programs, however, bring new challenges:
* How to acquire new constituents?
* How to cultivate this virtual constituent community?
* How to produce fundraising revenue (quickly)?
* How to reduce the payback period for the program investment?
For nonprofits with growing online fundraising programs, there is a similar set of challenges:
* How to continue to grow the base?
* How to keep program costs in check?
* How to increase revenue?
* How to increase net proceeds (revenue less costs)?
Rapid donor cultivation
To address these questions, Common Knowledge developed a program we call Rapid Donor Cultivation, inspired by best practices in the online retail industry. In this sector, savvy retailers noticed that online prospect affinity is typically highest for the first 30 days after the visitor opts in to the retailer’s e-mail list. This honeymoon period — the high-affinity phase — is characterized by higher e-mail open, click and conversion rates. It turns out that this behavior is also demonstrated by new nonprofit e-subscribers.
You can capitalize on this high-affinity period by sending a stream of carefully crafted e-mails with select content and calls to action to the new subscriber over the first 30 days. We typically use a 10 e-mail stream, ending with a targeted fundraising ask.
Via this process, you’ll be able to realize direct benefits, including:
* decreasing the elapsed time to the first gift;
* maximizing the size of the first gift;
* maximizing the lifetime value of a new subscriber; and
* reducing the cost of fundraising by using an automated e-mail queue.
Ultimately, your goal should be to optimize your investment in e-mail fundraising and to produce a reliable, cost-effective revenue stream from individual giving. In addition to the direct benefits, you may also realize several ‘soft’ benefits:
* an increase in constituent comprehension of nonprofit programs and mission;
* reduction in the number of unsubscribes;
* increase in brand awareness; and
* a growth in subscriber affinity.
Project description
Common Knowledge helped the International Fund for Animal Welfare, an international animal-rights group, set up just such a program. It’s been running (since July 2007) and includes a series of 10 e-mails sent over five weeks. These e-mails start going out to subscribers shortly after they opt in.
The e-mail series looks to educate and engage new subscribers with a sequenced, in-depth introduction to the organization and IFAW’s key issues. For IFAW, the e-mails educate readers about each of the major animal-issue campaigns important to the organization. To engage subscribers, the e-mail series incorporates advocacy actions, surveys, photo gallery tours and other “active” calls to action. The Internet, while virtual, offers a host of interactive and transactional opportunities; extensive use of these engagement tools is a central theme of the program. IFAW’s program culminates with a fundraising appeal centered on support for a Russian bear sanctuary — historically, a high-performing fundraising issue for [IFAW].
One of the most intriguing aspects of the program is the frequency and volume of communication with supporters: two e-mails per week for five weeks. This frequency and volume of focused communication is cost prohibitive via direct mail — and even online if attempted manually. In order to dramatically reduce the program cost, we implemented an automated e-mail sequence using IFAW’s eCRM solution — Kintera. It’s possible your CRM has similar functionality.
Results
The results of the program since its initial launch with IFAW have far exceeded its expectations. Overall, the program has reduced the time to the first gift, increased the number of subscribers who give and — in initial estimates — increased the lifetime value of new subscribers.
In order to get a better idea of how this stacks up against receiving no specialized e-mail communications, we compared the donation activity of new supporters who subscribed during three months in 2006 (before we launched the program) with those who subscribed during the same months in 2007 (who participated in the program). We analyzed all financial transactions made by supporters over the first six months they were subscribed to the list. We found [that] the time to first gift decreased by 17 days; and the conversion rate of subscribers to donors increased by 83 percent. [To see the chart that accompanies these findings, click here.]
These initial results give a good indication of the extent to which this type of program can improve donor cultivation and suggests that, in addition to improving the results for the first gift, it also increases the lifetime value of new subscribers.
Key lessons
* Frequent communications during first 30 days of subscription increases donations.
* Interactive features in e-mails increase engagement and affinity for organization.
* Automation of e-mail series is critical to making high frequency e-mail communications cost effective.
Jenny L. Feinberg is senior consultant, fundraising, and Jeff Patrick is president and founder of Common Knowledge. A more-in depth analysis of the IFAW Rapid Donor Cultivation program is available here. This article originally appeared in the Sept. 24 issue of the NTEN newsletter.
