6 simple breakthrough ideas for your next pledge event

6 SIMPLE WAYS THAT YOU CAN ACHIEVE BREAKTHROUGH RESULTS FOR YOUR PLEDGE EVENTPresented by: hjc

At the end of the session, we’ll ask you to go online and fill out our integration survey. We’ll select 1 WINNER to receive complimentary 1-hour pledge event fundraising consulting session

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/MKJWHWP

Take our survey at the end of the session!

What we will cover this morning...

• The unique Canadian and generational imperatives for experiential fundraising events

• 6 ways to maximize your event impact:

1. Data & KPIs2. Website 3. Survey4. Social media 5. Segmentation and Stewardship6. Multi-Channel Communication: Phone and

Online

Remember...

It’s tempting to follow trends BUT follow your supporters

GENERATIONAL IMPERATIVE FOR EVENTS

Direct donation 40% Supported a friend 15%Visited website 23% Donated goods 14%Information 20% Attended event 15%

Direct donation 49% Attended event 12%Donated goods 19% Supported friend 16%Visited website 14%

Direct donation 51% Information 18%Donated goods 25%Supported a friend 18%

Direct donation 62% Information 19%Donated goods 13% Supported a friend 18%Visited web site 10%

Gen Y

Gen X

Boomers

Civics

2011 First Engagement

Canadians ‘do’ more event fundraising than our US cousins…

DEMOGRAPHIC IMPERATIVES: HOW BOOMERS AND YOUNGER DONORS ARE EVENT FANATICS…

NOW AND IN THE FUTURE!

BOOMERS (MID-AGED DONORS)

Boomers have decided that giving must be fun

And it must be done on their terms

Gone is the idea of the unconditional gift of their parents

Their giving shows their own brand

http://boomers.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/2008/09/23/moses_znaimer_zoomers.jpg

Boomer Donors66% give $4.1B/year

• Enjoy peer-to-peer giving

• Want to sign petitions, read newsletters

• Like to attend events and volunteer

• Really favor tribute giving/giving in lieu of traditional gift

78 million boomers in the US are beginning to retire… one survey found ½ want to have a positive social impact*…why not give them something to do…

* NYTimes, Nicolas Kristof, July 21, 08

As one boomer says on helping charities: “It wasn’t a matter of being a Mother Teresa. It was a matter of, ‘Boy, that sounds like fun!”…

* NYTimes, Nicolas Kristof, July 21, 08

• How boomers act – compared to civics and how this makes sense for online social network fundraising…

The Current and Future Donor…

Hyper-adventure giving – feeling young and having fun while giving

Cycle event for health related charity

The age range here is leaning towards Gen X or boomers.

53.8% of participants are between 35 -54. The event is

low endurance which may explain the higher age bracket.

There is a fairly even gender split here. The health issue for which the event raises money for is gender neutral and the activity is physical which may

explain this split.

Registered Participants for a high endurance cycling

event.Male: 60%Female: 40%Age Under 30: 23% 30-40: 23% 40-50: 32% 50-60: 18% Over 60: 4%

Only 10% are avid cyclists

Young demographic. 46% under 40. Again probably related to physical demands of the

event.

Fairly even gender split but more men then women. High level of male participation

probably related to high endurance nature of event

Note that most of the participants were not regularly engaging in the activity at hand. Most participants for this event

had some connection to the fundraising cause

Extreme Giving

Hyper-adventure giving – feeling young and having fun while giving

Stretch goals…

Stretch Goals…

Personal page

Stretch goal of $10,000+Mission/trip connection

Experiential

And then there is Gen Z…

• Do you have an integrated plan for supporters under 15?

Maximizing peer 2 peer

• Third party event portals• Memorial/tribute/honour giving• Celebration fundraising• School/church fundraising

Too manual

Leveraging online

Going even farther

Peer to Peer and milestone giving

Peer to Peer and Milestone Giving

Trend review

• Extreme Fundraising• Ego Fundraising• Boomer blip• Leverage social networks to your

advantage and to their social elevation…• 3rd party event portals for pledge events• P2P for

memorializing/honouring/celebrating loved ones

WAY #1: CREATING A DATA-DRIVEN EVENT CULTURE

Why look at event data?

• Inject the ‘science of fundraising’ into events

• Events are seen separate to organizational fundraising efforts

• Other than revenue and attendance there is little benchmarking

• Data audits can tell us the ‘who’ we should focus our time and energy on with stretched resources

Start by asking...

• What metrics are most important to your non-profit?

• How does event fundraising impact those metrics?

• What are you currently measuring?• What decisions might you make with

more insight or more data?

Establish meaningful KPIs• Selecting good metrics, and turning them into key

performance indicators (KPIs), is critical to an organization in achieving its objectives.

• KPIs by themselves are not metrics, although they make use of the metric data.

• Instead, useful KPIs accomplish four primary objectives:– Provide succinct definition that summarizes the nature of the

relationship between the data;– Establish an expectation for performance;– Reveal meaningful change in activity for a selected period, and;– Influence remedial action. If a KPI goes up or down, it should

spur a corresponding business action. Otherwise, it is not a true KPI.

A few tips!

• Stay rooted in the customer data, not internal agendas

• Gain perspective on what’s driving results• Condition stakeholders to review KPI

trends monthly – or more often if necessary

EVENT KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

Which benchmarks?

Mission

Revenue

Gifts

Donors

Participants

Event

• Key metrics:– Number of events– Participant satisfaction

Number of Events

•Number of events facilitate mission by providing revenue through fundraising participants

•More events create more mission impact because participants increase with number of events

•Event quality matters! It speaks to the care you put into your brand and your mission.

Participant Satisfaction• Post-event surveys can leave clues to

retention!

Question First time walker Return walker

Overall, what was your EVENT experience like this year?

Excellent/good 97.4% 93.0%

Question First time walker Return walker

Will you joining us next year?

Yes 76.3% 90.3%

No / Don’t know 23.7% 9.7%

proprietary and confidential

Which benchmarks?

Mission

Revenue

Gifts

Donors

Participants

Event

• Key metrics:– # of participants– % fundraising– Team participation– Number of emails sent– Renewal/Attrition rates

Participant KPIs

2007 2008 2009 2010

Total Number of Participants 5,319 6,185 11,324 11,152

Total Fundraising Revenue $682,518 $926,392 $1,552,746 $1,794,078

% Participants on a Team 73% 73% 77% 76%

Number of Active Fundraising Participants 2,399 3,151 5,434 6,225

% Participants Fundraising 45% 51% 48% 56%

% Participants Fundraising Online (Total/Active) 23%/51% 30%/58% 27%/57% 32%/58%

% Participants with $0 raised 55% 49% 52% 44%

SegmentationFundraisers 0 to 12 Months

Revenue Totals ForLast 36 Months

Fundraisers 13 to 24 MonthsRevenue Totals For

Last 36 Months

Fundraisers 25 to 36 MonthsRevenue Totals For

Last 36 Months

2%

8%

20%

70%

$871,514

$729,422

$630,578

$474,330

$286,0472%

8%

20%

70%

2%

8%

20%

70%

$286,892

$280,681

$239,224

$102,828

$121,454

$124,053

$126,054

• Top 2%/0-12 months = 124 fundraisers who are key to support this year. These champions receive enhanced cultivation support. Personal fundraising coach. Welcome call from Executive Director or Board Member.

• Top 2%/13-36 months = 122 fundraisers you need to re-engage. Consider calling them personally to thank them for past participation and find out what you can do to get them back to the event.

• Further 8% in past 2 years = 820 fundraisers who also deserve some special attention. Event Chairs to call/welcome back.


Which benchmarks?

Mission

Revenue

Gifts

Donors

Participants

Event

• Key metrics:– Number of donors– Average and median

donors per participant

Overview of Walk Donor Revenue

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010Total Revenue $765,983.00 $887,398.00 $1,129,222.00 $1,789,308.00 $2,072,069.00# of Gifts 16,832 18,827 22,047 36,993 37,437Avg Gift $45.51 $47.13 $50.40 $48.37 $55.36

# on File 16,186 31,665 49,709 80,208 109,661# Active 16,186 18,155 21,574 35,342 35,584% Active 100% 57% 43% 44% 32%

# Renewed N/A 2,676 2,991 3,408 4,747# New N/A 15,479 17,944 30,599 29,453# Reactivated N/A N/A 639 1,335 1,384# Stopped Giving 12,305 13,882 17,295 30,595 N/A


Donor KPIs

2007 2008 2009 2010

# of fundraising participants 2,399 3,151 5,434 6,225

# of walk donors 18,155 21,574 35,342 35,584

average # of donors/participant 7.6 6.8 6.5 5.7

median # of donors/participant 4 3 3 3


Which benchmarks?

Mission

Revenue

Gifts

Donors

Participants

Event

• Key metrics:– Overall revenue and

fundraising revenue (gross and net)

– Compounded annual growth rate

– Fundraising revenue per participant

Revenue

2007 2008 2009 2010

Revenue $1,133,000 $1,493,000 $2,262,000 $2,539,000

Annual Growth Rate N/A 31% 51% 12%

Expenses $303,000 $329,000 $453,000 $610,000

Surplus $830,000 $1,164,000 $1,809,000 $1,929,000

% of Dollar to Programs 73% 78% 80% 76%

Compounded Annual Growth Rate 2007-2010

22.35%


Revenue KPIs

2007 2008 2009 2010

Fundraising $887,398.00 $1,129,122.00 $1,789,308.00 $2,072,069.00

Participants 5,319 6,185 11,324 11,152

Fundraisers 2,399 3,151 5,434 6,225

Donors 18,155 21,574 35,342 35,584

Do you use benchmarks with your own data?

Driver Benchmark* Benchmark ** WWoH WWoH

Fundraising/Participant Not provided Median $110 Avg. $137.12, Median $115

Avg. $160.88, Median $110

Fundraising Growth -7.63% 15% 58.47% 15.80%

Attendance Growth .22% 11% 83.09% -1.52%

* Industry Benchmarks from Run, Walk, Ride 30 Survey** Industry Benchmark provided by Event360

Participants Who Raised More, The Same Or Less

2008 2009 2010

# % # % # %

Raised More 324 10 392 7 598 10

Raised Same 2,492 79 4,634 85 4,994 79

Raised Less 335 11 408 8 680 11

Which benchmarks?

Mission

Revenue

Gifts

Donors

Participants

Event

• Key metrics:– Conversion rates to org

donor– # of opt-ins for org

follow-up– The ask!!!!– Focus on reasons

people participate/segmented communication

WAY #2: WEB SITE

What do you think? Key Components of an Online Event Website:

Key Components for the Website• Registration• Top team fundraisers• Top individual fundraisers• Event details• Support

– FAQs– Phone number

• Simple steps to participate• Donate opportunity without registering

– Multiple ways to donate• Search – teams, individuals• Connection to mission

– How $$ are used– Emotional appeal

• Event goal• Opportunity to request info – email, mail• Social Media Links

04/11/2023 proprietary and confidential 55

proprietary and confidential 56

and confidential

Use the registration form to capture key info• Team captains

– How many team members do you expect?– Do they increase the team fundraising goal?– More personalized service, immediate telephone call (more on

this later)• Team members

– Do they increase their personal fundraising goal?– Are they the top fundraiser on their team?

• Individuals– Consider a ‘singles’ board – Upgrade to a team

• Corporate team– Matching gift option?

Encourage self-sponsorship at registration

• 19/20 top fundraisers for MSF’s Be There 1st donated to themselves

• 25% of all donations (not-general) were self-donations

• In many cases, participants made multiple donations to themselves.

Participant Centre

• Key part of communication for your participants

• Set up personal and team pages, customize with photos and copy

• Send emails to friends and family• View campaign updates

Participant Centre Features

• Import your address book• Send varieties of email templates to your contacts

• Join• Support• Thank you

• Users can edit these messages and preview before sending.

• Easily see which of your address book contacts have been sent each message, corresponding date, and whether or not they have donated to you or your team.

The two BIG asks1. Charity asks people to participate2. They then ask their friends, family, co-

workers, classmates to giveThe biggest reason people don’t give?

THEY ARE NOT ASKED• So, make it simple, provide people with

the tools, give them templated emails, encourage them along the way

WAY #3: SURVEYListen to your supporters!

The case against anonymous post-event surveys

• Understand why they participate in the event and craft communication plan

• Track ‘issues’ and deal with them personally (renewal is vital)

• Understand if person likes incentives or is turned off by them

Also, use the registration form to capture key info• Team captains

– How many team members do you expect?– Do they increase the team fundraising goal?– More personalized service, immediate telephone call (more on

this later)• Individuals

– Consider a ‘singles’ board – Upgrade to a team

• Team members– Do they increase their personal fundraising goal?– Are they the top fundraiser on their team?

• Corporate team– Matching gift option?

Reasons people participate in an event:• Affinity to activity

– I like to walk and be outside.• Affinity to third party group

– I want to support my company’s initiative to take an active role in the event.

• Affinity to participants– I like to spend time with my neighbours or friends.

• Affinity to cause– I want my children to live in a world without ovarian cancer.

• Affinity to organization– I believe strongly in Ovarian Cancer Canada.

WAY #4: SOCIAL MEDIAMake sure you leverage

Social media landscape

• Facebook is the #1 social network used by nonprofits (98%)

• Twitter adoption rate is increasing• Paid, earned and owned media• Online communities growing – more likes,

more followers• New players: Google+ and Pinterest

Source: The Nonprofit Social Network Benchmark Report, 2012

WALK FOR KIDS HELP PHONE

Choose the best network for your event

WALK FOR KIDS HELP PHONE10 Quick Wins to Implement

We looked at 4 generationsGEN Y

• Trendsetters• Early Adopters

• Willingness to try new social networks

BOOMERS• Frequent

internet users• Less likely to upload

Videos or listen to podcasts

GEN X• Similar to Gen Y but

not as quick to adopt• More ‘regular’ users

of LinkedIn

CIVICS• More passive on

social media• 50% using Facebook

and YouTube

Donors like peer to peer on social networks

• Donors like the idea of their friends and family asking for donations via social networks

• Younger people find this the most appropriate but older people are open to this too

• How can we use social media as a peer to peer channel?

Social media & Peer-to-Peer

• The past decade saw the meteoric rise of peer to peer fundraising as a tool on engaging younger donors

• But as internet user starts to spend more and more time on social networks – the days of emailing to ask for a peer-to-peer gift may be declining

Social media is #1 online activity

Source: comScore Media Metrix, March 2007 - October 2011

Social Media Turbo charge for peer to peer fundraising

Source: Blackbaud Social Giving Report 2011

Social Media Turbo charge for peer to peer fundraising

Source: Charity Dynamics, 2011

4 steps for social media success

1. Make sharing easy2. Empower your participants3. Communicate regularly4. Measure, refine, repeat

1. Make sharing easy

• Add sharing buttons to your website, emails, all collateral so people know where you are

1. Make sharing easy

• Have a physical event?– Promote a Twitter hashtag– Be active on location-based social networks

(Facebook, Foursquare)– Take lots of photos– Constant reminders of your social media

presences

2. Empower your participants

• Give them clear direction on how they can help

• Give them tools to help raise money through social channels

Have participants fundraise for you everywhere

3. Communicate regularly

• Social media has got to be “all in”• Keep the “social” in social media, can’t just push your

organization’s content, need to engage in a dialogue• Reserve time to monitor your social media channels on

a regular basis• Respond to comments or questions made by your

followers on your posts• Ask logical, relevant questions of your followers in

posts• Repost/retweet interesting relevant posts from others

engaging with you on social media• Keep your social media activities going year-round

3. Communicate regularly• A schedule can really help with your communications strategy

4. Measure, refine, repeat

• Shocking how many orgs go through the trouble of a social media strategy with no plans to track its success

• Track everything you can to the best of your ability– Messaging: polls, photos, positive/negative

sentiment– Social cues: likes, shares, retweets– Fundraising: donations, registrations– Website: pages/visit, time on site, bounce rate

How is social media measured?

Source: comScore/Buddy Media

11) Keep A Dashboard

• Find tools to help you aggregrate social media numbers in support of an event

• Monitor the dashboard and make tactical and strategic decisions based on what you see

Social media summary

• Your constituents are on (multiple) social media networks, are you?

• 4 steps to social media success1. Make sharing easy2. Empower your participants3. Communicate regularly4. Measure, refine, repeat

WAY #5: SEGMENT AND STEWARD MORE EFFECTIVELY

Communicate personally with the best ROI

How can you be efficient in your communications?

Segment donors

• Segmentation is the key to ensuring you are spending the right amount of time on the right participants1. Team Captains raising > ? or of large teams2. Team Captains raising < ? or of small teams3. Team Members raising > ?4. Team Members raising < ?5. Individuals6. Non-fundraisers

Pareto₂

• Of your top 20% of participants, give a highly personalized experience to the top 4%

• Assign a personal fundraising coach – check-in regularly

• Also provided additional support for team captains of large team (10+ people)

Managing resources

• Team captain with large team or high goal– account manager visit, personalised kit

• Other team captains– account manager, standard kit

• Individuals– promote upgrading

• Team member– basic kit

Stewardship

• Thank you call – Congratulations on completely your first

Walk– Encourage sign up for next years Walk

• First time Walker thank you email series – Links to social media to stay involved year

round – Encouraging sign up for next years Walk


Recruitment Emails

WalkAudience 2010 Participants 2010 Participants 2010 Participants 2010 Participants 2010 Participants 2010 Participants 2010 Participants

Kill File 2011 Participants 2011 Participants 2011 Participants 2011 Participants 2011 Participants 2011 Participants 2011 Participants

Sequence Email 1 Email 2 Email 3 Email 4 Email 5 Email 6 Email 7

Timing 19 weeks before event

16 weeks before event





1.5 weeks before event

Send Date 06-May 27-May 17-Jun 08-Jul 29-Jul 19-Aug 02-Sep 12-Sep

MessageA new year of WWoH/ Team

captain invitation

An exclusive invitation for last

year's WWoH participants/

Highlighting 2010 success

How your WWoH dollars make a

difference/ Survivor spotlight

3 reasons you should sign up for

WWoH today

What does WWoH mean to

you?

In less than a month/

Countdown invitation

Time-sensitive information

about this year's WWoH

Day ofCALL TO ACTION Sign up online for

2011Sign up online for






2011

Emails with conditional content for past team captains

Start a team------------------Sign up online





Coaching Emails

WalkAudience

All 2011 Participants

Sequence Email 1 Email 2 Email 3 Email 4 Email 5 Email 6 Email 7 Email 8 Email 9 Email 10 Email 11 Email 12 Email 13

Timing18 weeks

before event









8 days before event

4 days before event

Day before WWoH

3 days after event

Send Date 08-May 29-May 19-Jun 03-Jul 17-Jul 31-Jul 14-Aug 21-Aug 28-Aug 04-Sep 08-Sep 11-Sep 12-Sep 15-Sep

Message3 steps to fundraising success - tutorial

New ways to

fundraise with

Facebook

Why you WWoH

An update on your progress

so far

Tip: Add your

WWoH URL to your email

signature

Do your Facebook

friends know that

you're Walking

this year?

How your WWoH dollars

help save lives

10 friends and $10

The WWoH

totals so far...

Tip: Successfu

l fundraisin

g on Facebook

A WWoH team

challengeEvent

Details

Day of

Thank You

CTA

Personal donation/

update page/ send

emails

Send streams

on Facebook-------------

----goal

Share your

WWoH story on

your personal page/ Tell 6 friends

Double your totals today

-----------------

Personal donation/

send emails

Create a personal URL/ Add it to your

email signature

Send streams

on Facebook-------------

----Goal

Send an email with 2

key cancer facts

Ask 10 friends for $10

Ask 4 new

potential donors

-----------------

Ask 8 new

potential donors

Donate your

profile pic on

Facebook/ Send

streams-------------

----goal

Which team

member can raise the most

$ between now and

this weekend

?

Prepare for the

WWoH/ Last email

push

Share your

WWoH experience/Survey

Conditionals

Team Captains

------------------

Team Members

No goal-------------

----goal

Updated personal

page-------------

----Not

updated personal

page

Raised $ online

-----------------

$0 raised online

Team Captains

------------------

Team Members

No goal-------------

----goal

emails sent

-----------------

no emails sent

Team Captains

------------------

Team Members

$100+ raised online

-----------------

>$100 raised online

No goal-------------

----goal

Team Captains

------------------

Team Members

Team Captains

------------------

Team Members

Team Captains

------------------

Team Members

• Newsletter-style email:

• Participant segmentation– Allowed for specific and targeted fundraising

messages – Team Captains– Raised $0– Raised <$500– Raised >$500

• Strong content/great incentives

WAY #6: MULTI-CHANNEL COMMUNICATION: PHONE AND ONLINE

HOW TO USE THE TELEPHONE WITH PLEDGE EVENTS

The Phone can be irritating…

“The bathtub was invented in 1850 and the telephone in 1875. In other words, if you had been living in 1850, you could have sat

in the bathtub for 25 years without having to answer the phone”

Bill DeWitt

But…

“The telephone, which interrupts the most serious conversations and cuts short the most weighty

observations, has a romance of its own”

Virginia Woolf

The phone and online?

0102030405060708090

100

1 2

Per

cent

age

of G

oal R

aise

d (%

)

1: without call; 2: with call

Percentage of Goal Raised - without and with a call

Percentage of Goal Raised

Further tests…

• A phone test was conducted a second year with online event registrants…

• The test group that received a phone call (2.5 minutes in length) raised $131.42 more than a registrant who did NOT receive a call

Online pledge pages and calling….

Not Called Called $-

$100

$200

$300

$400

$500

$600

$700

$800

$900

$1,000

$722.18

$920.09

Yoga In MotionImpact of Calling Participants

Avg. Revenue Per Participant

Action Taken

Aver

age

Reve

nue

($)

Up 27.4%

High touch…high gift amounts…

• 20 board member pages• $237,534 raised ($143,000

by one board member)• Phone used to stimulate,

manage, and help board members with their personal pages

Proprietary & Confidential 111

The phone and pledge pages are beautiful partners…

hjc

Average Raised

Including Inactive Participants No Call 1 call 2 calls

$84.01 $187.59 $456.18

Excluding Inactive Participants $140.30 $213.85 $596.54

Proprietary & Confidential 112

“MSF contact was perfect. I received one call that was meant to answer any of my questions and assist me in fundraising. It

was great.”Participant Survey Respondent

The number one rated interaction with MSF was the phone call over the three month campaign!

hjc

When to Call?

What to say?

• Thank you for registering• Can I help at all?• You’re doing a great job! Is the

technology working for you? Any questions at all?

• One week ‘til race day!• You’ve reached your fundraising goal!

Let’s raise it.

And one last thing!

• How do you convert your lapsed donors and pledge participants?

• Very carefully!• You need to combine online, mail, and the

phone• You need to come up with a monthly giving

offer that is connected to their emotional, personal connection to the individual and ‘team’ experience of the event

Go online and fill out the survey! We’ll select 1 WINNER to receive complimentary 1-hour pledge event fundraising consulting session

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/MKJWHWP

Take our survey!

Thank you!

• Mike [email protected]

• Tara [email protected]

• Mark [email protected]

6 simple breakthrough ideas for your next pledge event

Technology