There is No Master Key: Avoiding One-Sized Strategies
Have you ever been standing at the door of a building, searching for the right key to open the door? Sometimes it can take forever to find the right fit … trying key after key, until you find the one that works perfectly, easily opening the door.
That’s basically our task every day as fundraisers — to find the key with the perfect fit. Luckily, in our world, campaign and program strategies are not based on trial and error, but rather, on the marriage of data insights, intentional innovation and best practice knowledge.
This last element, “best practice knowledge”, can lead us into dangerous territory where best practice is confused with “one sized strategy” which is both not the same and a risky practice. While many of the goals we work towards are similar (i.e. raise $$ this year), the path to get there will be highly nuanced and dependent on a variety of factors.
Thankfully, our business is one that is grounded in data.
By utilizing insights gleaned from both file health analyses and campaign performance trends, we can gather a well-rounded picture of what is happening at both a macro and micro level. But data only gets us so far. There are two other primary components that drive response and revenue for any campaign: creative (30% of the response equation) and cadence, or timing (10% of the response equation).
With the number of nonprofit organizations growing by 42% in a ten-year period (2013-2023), developing resonate creative that stands out across channel is imperative for both response and donor sentiment reasons. With all the noise that is out there, content that lacks appeal or looks like everything else, will not only not get noticed, but in my view, it may also lead to increased donor apathy due to an onslaught of “things that all look the same”.
The final element of the response equation is the timing. We talk a lot about external factors like the election and the economy will impact fundraising. And there are various studies that provide insight into these questions. At its most basic level, the issue is really that donors are people just like you and me (in fact they are you and me) which means they (we) are impacted by a lot of the same things around us, and for us to stop what we are doing to pay attention to what is in front of us requires something out of the ordinary … something compelling and important. We must ask ourselves in all instances — is that what we are creating and delivering? Something compelling, important, and grounded in data? If the answer is yes — we can pass ‘Go’, collect $200 and continue fundraising. If not, we should likely start back at ‘Go’ and rethink some element of what we are doing.
Below are a few examples of how these elements have worked in tandem with each other to drive results for two children’s hospitals.
Developing a Tailored Midlevel Program: High-value donor strategies are not just a “version of” a core or mass market strategy. In order to be successful, specific attention and focus must be paid to elements like the offer and ask strategy, messaging and case for support, and creative design. Taking this methodical approach, we were able to increase total giving from donors giving $1,000+ across channels YOY. Additionally subsequent analysis revealed that donor value also increased for this cohort.
Thanking Donors Drives Retention and Value: Acknowledgements are an often overlooked and undervalued program for organization. With a customized approach to thanking donors, one children’s hospital saw their response rate increase 3X (year over year) while also driving up overall gifts per donor, and thus total donor value. Another organization that we partnered with saw more revenue generated from their acknowledgement program than many organizations see from their appeal programs all year!
Driving Revenue for Capital Campaigns: At times, our work extends beyond traditional campaign management. When an organization is launching, or in the midst of, a capital campaign, ensuring that donors are made aware of this giving opportunity requires an intentional communication plan. Starting with the organization’s goals, to include who they wanted to reach, their budget, and a few mandatories, our team got to work building a comprehensive cross-channel strategy to support this effort, in tandem with the traditional direct response fundraising and cultivation strategies already in play. While results are still rolling in, early indications of these efforts are strong:
At 50% of the campaign timeframe (May-December), the campaign has already reached 70% of the goal revenue.
Before the direct mail campaign was fully exposed, it had already met its new donor goal!
Regionalized Programs Require a Unique Approach: In today’s cost-inflated world, the impact on smaller/regionalized programs can be significant. Optimizing print and media opportunities is critical to making the most of every dollar. In addition, often with these programs, a “slow and steady” mentality is better than a “sprint to the finish” thought process. For these programs especially, having reliable, growing revenue each year is more advantageous than large, unpredictable swings that carry greater risk. For a local children’s hospital, this has been our approach for the last 6 years of our partnership where revenue has grown annually and donor value is at a 5-year high, despite a very tumultuous fundraising landscape.
I love the idea of an “easy button” where we could press a button and voila everything is simple and done! I have, however, not found such a thing and in fact *have* found that if any plan lacks data, creative, or vision integrity, it will likely not work (and if it does — it is likely based in luck rather than sustainable progress). And while there is no “master key” — we don’t need one. We have good data, good thinking and good ideas to keep us going!
Looking for a team that will take your unique program to new heights with a tailored approach? Connect with us!
Cover Image Source: https://www.freepik.com/free-vector/cryptographic-officer-system-administrator-create-algorithm-code-key-owner-blockchain-cryptography-encryption-algorithm-concept_11667622.htm