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10 Steps to Making Your Donor the Hero With Your
Year-end Campaign #FRDNY
Vice President, Big Duck
@Farra @BigDuck
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Farra Trompeter
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Senior Vice President Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy
@ParentProjectMD
#donorlove
Will Nolan
What we’ll cover today
• Making donors heroes and why it matters! • What this looks like in action • 10 ways to make your donor the hero • Resources
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Making your donor the hero
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Insertpicofmarvel
We’re not the first ones to recognize the appeal of a good hero.
From Winning the Story Wars by Jonah Sachs/ Free Range Studios
But how you tell your hero’s story could be the difference between phenom…
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And flop (sorry, Ben baby)…
But fear not, there’s an awesome goal that makes your quest worth it.
POLL: What % of dollars from donors did you receive in December? • 10% • 30% • 50% • 85% • Not sure
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Source: Network for Good, http://www.networkforgood.com/digitalgivingindex/
The big bad that stands in your way
http://upload.wikimedia.org/
Unless you defeat low donor-retention rates, you may not earn as many year-end gifts.
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Just how big is this problem?
h"ps://bloomerang.co/blog/infographic-2015-fundraising-effec<veness-project-survey-report/
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Treating your donor like a hero can save year-end season • Your best prospects (donors!) will feel
celebrated, important, and more likely to give again
• Donors will see the dramatic appeal and importance of your mission
• Donors can understand their role and feel part of the team
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So how can you build the kind of year-end hero story that breaks records and inspires a sequel?
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Case Study
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Year-end ‘15, PPMD… • Anticipating approval of two drugs that
would benefit a small percentage of families
• Was expecting to fund research that holds promise for every family
• Guided by PPMD’s role as the strength of the Duchenne community
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Campaign calendar • Direct mail – 1 package in early Dec • Email – 9 messages late Nov-early Jan
– 1 Thanksgiving email, campaign intro – 7 appeals with match offer (incl 3 emails on last week of
the year) – 1 campaign report-back & thank you
• Social media – Five/week Facebook and Twitter posts over the course of the campaign
• Lightbox and homepage slide live throughout campaign
• #GivingTuesday #FRDNY
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2015 results • Total raised: $1,505,277 • Total gifts: 1,054 • Email response rate: 0.12%
(double the benchmark) • Cost to raise a dollar: $0.20
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Ways to make your donor the hero of
your year-end campaign
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1. Get to know your hero’s origin story • Who are they? • Why do they support your work? • What is their super power?
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1. Get to know your hero’s origin story • Who are they? They know and love
someone living with Duchenne • Why do they support your work?
They’ve received support from the PPMD community and have had a hand in your accomplishments.
• What is their super power? Improving and extending life; determination in the face of incredible odds
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Understand your donors before your quest starts… • Talk to them
– Interview donors by phone – Ask quick questions at events – Send out a survey
• Invite them to give feedback • Listen!
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“Dana”
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2. Use the right theme to draw your hero into your quest
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h"p://cdn.thedailybeast.com/
Your theme should… • Feel like it’s a matter or life or death (or
at least have a bit of drama!) • Be urgent and timely. It needs to be
addressed, right now. • Relate clearly to your core mission. • Present a role for your donor—the hero!
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Ways to identify your theme • Hitch a ride on
news “waves” • Make your own news • Relate your mission
to the holidays • Pose a challenge
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3. Map your hero’s journey
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h"ps://managemen<sajourney.com/
Elements of your story • Problem—We need solutions to help
the whole Duchenne community • Solution—With your support, PPMD
can fund the early-stage research we need to help every single family
• Timeline—Thanksgiving to 12/31 • Action—Give, spread the word • Goal—Raise $200,000
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4. Select the right channels to engage your hero • Where are they? • Where are you? • What will you gain
from additional channels?
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5. Maximize the superpowers of each channel • Mail — Fundraising, expanded stories • Email — Deadline-driven fundraising, short,
informal updates • Established social media — Storytelling,
conversation, drive traffic to web • New social media — Excitement, storytelling,
drive traffic to web • Web — Online giving, other online actions,
destination for email & social media
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6. Make the most of opportunities • Tie the campaign into things you’re
already doing? (events, newsletters, email signatures, etc.)
• Ask partners to post or send a message about your hero’s quest
• Ask public figures to lend their voice to your campaign
• Create conversation about your mission
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7. Give your hero the right “suit”—a consistent look
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Make campaign-customized… • Homepage slide or lightbox • URL in direct mail appeal • Newsletter promo • Social media artwork • Follow-up requests to spread the
word via social media
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8. Build dramatic tension, craft your calendar around deadlines • Timeline is roughly 6 weeks • 1-2 direct mail appeals • 6-8 emails • 1-2 Facebook and Twitter posts/week with varied content • Increase frequency around deadline • #GivingTuesday
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9. Set it up for a sequel w/ a report-back in all channels
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Celebrate donors’ impact
10. Plan to capture & analyze the results of your quest
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Identify the tools to capture these metrics: • Open/clickthroughs/response rate • # of donors from different sources • Total dollars raised • Average gift • Donation page conversion rate • Year-over-year change • Cost to raise a dollar
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h"p://mrbenchmarks.com/
Compare against self, others
Bonus ideas • Send hand-written notes • Ask board members, staff, or volunteers
to make some phone calls • Empower donors to be fundraisers • Explore advertising on social media • Invite a small group of donors to give
feedback to your campaign
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Don’t wait till year-end!
h"p://www.franksonnenbergonline.com/blog/trust-me-27-ways-to-build-trust-and-credibility/
Questions?
Have no fear…
h"p://castabigger.net/
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Resources
Posts • Blog: www.bigducknyc.com/blog
– “3 questions all fundraising should be able to answer”
– “Five high-value ways to help prep for next year-end fundraising season”
– “So, THAT happened…Reflections on December online fundraising campaigns”
– “What to do before making the hard asks” – Quick tips for writing effective year-end
emails” #FRDNY
Books • Winning the Story Wars by Jonah Sachs • Building Donor Loyalty by Adrian Sargeant and
Elaine Jay • Keep Your Donors: The Guide to Better
Communications & Stronger Relationships by Tom Ahern and Simone P. Joyaux
• Seeing Through a Donor's Eyes: How to Make a Persuasive Case for Everything… by Tom Ahern
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Research • M+R Benchmarks: http://mrbenchmarks.com/ • Blackbaud: Show the Love [eBook]
http://bit.ly/npexperts-2014-npengage-launch • Fundraising Effectiveness Project
http://afpfep.org/ • NTEN: Nonprofit Donor Engagement Benchmark
Study http://www.nonprofitdonorengagement.com/CD_Nten_BenchmarkReport_Final.pdf
• Urban Institute: Donor Retention Matters http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/412731-Donor-Retention-Matters.pdf
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More questions? Let us know. Will Nolan Farra Trompeter PPMD Big Duck www.parentprojectmd.org www.bigducknyc.com (201) 250-8440 (718) 705-8092 [email protected] [email protected]
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