The most powerful word in fundraising?

By Jim Hussey

As we embark on a new year, so too have begun the membership/donor renewal efforts for many organizations.

Renewal programs are a series of contacts with the member/donor, asking that individual to renew her support for the organization’s work for another year. Renewal formats can include direct-mail packages, telemarketing calls and, increasingly, e-mail.

For those who are new to the industry, there are two types of membership/donor renewal programs — calendar-based and expire-based. Some organizations subscribe to a calendar-based renewal series, which seeks to renew the annual support of current members/donors at the same time, typically at the end of one calendar year or at the beginning of the next.

An expire-based renewal system seeks to do the same, except the timing of the renewal effort is based on the anniversary of that individual’s first contribution.

There are pros and cons for each type of system. Expire systems take the donors’ giving habits into better consideration and allow the organization to spread income throughout the year. But expire renewal systems also are much more expensive, for mailings are scattered across the year; as a result the quantities of each mailing often are small — driving up production costs.

Since a calendar-based renewal system typically starts at the beginning of the year, it takes advantage of the most productive time to renew a donor’s support. And since all donors are mailed at once, mail quantities are much higher and production costs are much lower. Calendar-based systems generally are best for small and fledging organizations.

In many ways, renewal solicitations are the easiest to produce. Asking a donor to simply renew her support is one of the most basic forms of fundraising, and it doesn’t take a creative genius to prepare such a package.

Despite the relative simplicity of such efforts, I’m still amazed by how many renewal programs lack some of the basic elements that can achieve the best results.

Stating the obvious
The best example — using the word “renewal.” I often have heard colleagues say that “free” is the most powerful term you can use in marketing. In regards to fundraising, I respectfully disagree. I believe the term “renewal” is the strongest.

Often, the only thing necessary to generate a contribution is some variation of the word “renewal.” Amazingly, I am often surprised to see some renewal packages that do not even use the word on the outside envelope. Check your current renewal series. If any of the packages don’t use this term on the carrier, test it and see if it doesn’t perform better with it than without.

In addition, this word should be used throughout the package. Once I’ve written a renewal letter, I count the number of times I’ve used the word “renewal” or some variation of it within the copy. If it’s less than a dozen, I add more. In addition, make certain that the reply form uses the word liberally. And it doesn’t hurt to even add it to the return envelope, such as a teaser that says, “Expedite … Membership Renewal Enclosed.”

Testing into frequency
Many organizations also do not include enough solicitations within their renewal series. But how many constitutes “enough” varies among organizations. I have one
client that has more than 13 notices within its renewal series, and another with only four. The number of renewal notices in a series should be determined through testing. With a young program, my general rule is that renewal notices should be mailed until the point that diminishing returns fall below the average response rate of appeal packages.

All healthy renewal programs also should include at least one telemarketing effort. If you lack a telemarketing effort in your renewal program, test the inclusion of a call. If you have tested telemarketing and it failed, try another vendor or different placement within your series. Some element of your member/donor file should be responsive to calling.

And increasingly, e-mail is becoming a major part of many renewal efforts. Whether you use e-mail to directly solicit renewed support (as you should for any Internet-generated supporters) or merely to inform recipients about an upcoming renewal mailing, the use of e-mail should not be ignored. FS

Jim Hussey is president of direct-response agency Adams Hussey & Associates, with offices in Arlington, Va., and San Francisco.