HOW TO BUILD AND GROW YOUR MONTHLY GIVING PROGRAM
Alice Benson, ELCA Foundation Kari Bert, Bread for the World
VALUE OF MONTHLY DONORS • Loyalty and commitment • Compound effect vs single gift donors • Potential to give additional gifts • Out-perform single gift donors: • Higher retention rates • Higher life-time revenue per donor • Great planned giving prospects • Predictable stream of revenue • Worth 2 to 4 times more over 5 years
LET’S COMPARE… Single Gift Donor: Membership Gift Year-End Appeal
Monthly Donor:
$50 Monthly Gift $20
$240
Year-End Appeal
$50
Total Ann’l Giving
$290
$100
Total Annual Giving $150
LET’S LOOK AT REAL NUMBERS… Single Gift Only Donors in 2012 Average gift median Median gifts/donor (includes new) Revenue per donor median Recurring Gift Only Donors in 2012 Average gift median Median gifts/donor (includes new) Revenue per donor median Recurring and Other Gift Donors in 2012 Average gift median Median gifts/donor (includes new) Revenue per donor median
$59 1.5 gifts $89 $22 9.6 gifts $183
$25 9.9 gifts $247
Source: Target Analytics Sustainer Benchmarking BBCon 2013
RETENTION First-Year Retention in 2012 Single Gift Only Donors Acquired in 2011 Median annual retention rate 29% Revenue per donor median $66 Recurring Gift Only Donors Acquired in 2011 Median annual retention rate 78% Median 13-month retention rate 56% Revenue per donor median $227 Recurring and Other Gift Donors Acquired in 2011 Median annual retention rate 91% Median 13-month retention rate 71% Revenue per donor median $158 Source: Target Analytics Sustainer Benchmarking Group 2 (2012 Data)
LET’S DO THE MATH… If you have 20,000 donors and you convert 5 percent of your file (or 1,000 donors) to become monthly donors – giving an average of $20 per month – you would realize $240,000 in revenue per year.
CURRENT TRENDS • Charitable giving is affected by culture and infrastructure • In many other countries, monthly giving is how most donors give to charities • The percent of donors giving monthly gifts is growing nearly everywhere – including the U.S. • A higher volume of monthly donors are acquired directly as monthly donors vs. converting single gift donors
HOW TO GET STARTED? • What has worked for you?
HOW TO GET STARTED? The essentials… 1. Set a goal and develop a strategy 2. Identify best prospects – begin with targeting existing donors • New donors • Small to mid-level donors ($5-150 donors) • Multiple gift donors (2+ gifts in 6 months) • Credit card donors • Suppress major donors
CREATIVE COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES • Brand your program – give your donors a sense of belonging • Craft a compelling offer – include impact of their monthly gift, efficiency, ease, green, benefits and/or premiums “Your gift of $xx each month will provide ______ to help _______.” • Coordinated campaigns across channels often results in even better success
Become a monthly donor and help eliminate poverty housing
CONNECT GIFT TO PROGRAM
MAKE THEM FEEL SPECIAL
HOW TO ACQUIRE MONTHLY DONORS • Invest in acquiring donors directly as monthly donors • Convert single gift donor to monthly donors • Use multiple channels for recruitment – email, website, direct mail, telemarketing, canvassing/face to face
GROWTH MILESTONES • Aggressive telemarketing campaign. • Online promotion and ease in signing up. • Survey of sustainers – motivations, frustrations, interest in premiums, suggestions. • Rebranding, centered on ads that featured profiles of sustainers. Marketing. • Drive for staff members – 83% joined • “Sustainer Recruitment” month. • Moving from “calendar club” to credit card/EFT • Cross-unit teams to create infrastructure.
Greenpeace – online form
MPR – online donation form
UNICEF – Google Ads
LWR – easy navigation
CULTIVATION • Keep monthly donors engaged and updated • Special communication track for monthly donors (welcome kit, annual statement, newsletter and upgrade mailings) • Special ways to thank them often • Send monthly email receipts vs. mailed acknowledgments • Ask for upgrades • Ask for 13th gift or special gifts
ANNUAL STATEMENTS
OPERATIONS, SYSTEMS
& VENDORS
• Assign one person to manage the program • Educate all staff about monthly giving program • Establish a seamless back end system • Provide excellent customer service • Processing – in-house or outsourcing (processing fee ranging from 35-50 cent)
PAYMENT METHODS • EFT – electronic funds transfer Retention rate – 98% (highest) Processing fee ranging from 10-15 cents per transaction Harder to acquire authorization • Credit card Retention rate – 95% Processing fees - higher 1. Percentage of monthly charge (2.5-3.5%) 2. Per-transaction charge (ranging from 15-20 cents) Expiration dates and declined cards are a challenge • Check Retention rate – 60-70% (lowest) Monthly reminders through mail Grandfathered in program Source: Erika Waasdorp, Monthly Giving The Sleeping Giant
RETENTION • Create “saves” program for declining credit cards (about 5% a month) Email (sometimes automatic with processor) Call Send letter • Thank cancelled monthly donors and ask for the reason of cancellation and seek feedback
WHAT CAN GO WRONG? 11/27 SOJOURNERS 202-328-8842 DC 11/29 MILL MOUNTAIN COFFEE AND RICHMOND VA 11/30 CLEAN WATER ACTION 586-783-3277 MI 11/28 SHELL OIL 57543989206 FALMOUTH VA 12/01 GIANT FOOD INC #320 GAITHERSBURG MD 12/03 MOVEON.ORG POLITICAL ACT 510-524-3492 CA 12/05 GIANT FOOD INC #320 GAITHERSBURG MD 12/04 BREAD FOR THE WORLD INST 202-6399400 DC 12/13 LUTHERAN SOCIAL SERVICES FALLS CHURCH VA 12/15 GIANT FOOD INC #320 GAITHERSBURG MD 12/14 EXXONMOBIL 47874615 GAITHERSBURG MD 12/15 OXFAM AMERICA-TEAM APPROA 800-7769326 MA 12/15 TRADER JOE'S #648 QPS GAITHERSBURG MD 12/18 BLK*ELCA 888-468-9966 CA 12/22 HABITAT FOR HUMANITY (OTH 229-9246935 GA
12.00 31.05 10.00 21.53 40.32 21.00 25.90 75.00 25.00 14.61 17.50 10.00 76.48 10.00 10.00
UPGRADING
EVALUATING AND TESTING • Reporting and Evaluating – track: New donors acquired as recurring (+) Donors converted to recurring (+) Reactivated recurring donors (+) Newly lapsed recurring donors (-) Recurring donor variance = (new recurring + converted + reactivated) – lapsed • Be a monthly donor to your organization • TEST, TEST, TEST ! ! !
CASE STUDY: Bread for the World • Baker’s Dozen Online Recruitment Campaign - September 2013 • Primary goal: Recruit 60 new Baker’s Dozen members • Secondary goal: Raise visibility of the Baker’s Dozen program and the importance of monthly giving
EMAIL 1
EMAIL 2
EMAIL 3
CASE STUDY: Bread for the World • Surpassed our goal and recruited 82 new Baker’s Dozen members • Emails generated $2,500 from 71 gifts ($35 avg. gift) • Raised the visibility of the Baker’s Dozen program among membership
Q&A Thank you! Alice Benson
[email protected]
Kari Bert
[email protected]
