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Volume 14 : Issue 1 4 January 2011

Let’s Work Together — The Power of Coalition Sr. Georgette Lehmuth, OSF President/CEO, National Catholic Development Conference

As we come to the end of 2010 and reflect upon what has happened during this past year, one theme or idea continues to surface in my mind—it has something to do with interdependence.

In many ways 2010 was a particularly difficult year, although it started off still full of promise, with a new, young charismatic president beginning his second year in the White House. In 2008, we had done something we had never done before: we elected an African-American to lead our country. We changed American history. It seemed that Americans were re-energized with new hope that the wars would come to an end; health care would become a right, not a privilege in the United States; new jobs and new technologies would thrive; and the Ameri-can economy would emerge from the recession even stronger than before. All things seemed possible. After all, the Senate and House majority were of the same party as The White House.

While I do not pretend to be any sort of political analyst, something happened in 2010 that resulted in great political turmoil and left us all with fractured dreams of what might have been. Some Washington insiders called it the worst political “gridlock” they had ever seen. The mid-term campaigning was a national embarrassment with its

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Also in this Issue 7 Public Policy Scorecard

10 How many times can you have your hand out?

13 How You Can Breathe New Life into Lapsed Donors and Double Your Results!

15 Premiums: The Latest Innovation

17 Twitter: Fundraising, Engagement, and Tools

21 Environmentally Responsible Marketing and Donors: It’s all about efficiency (Part II)

25 Innovative Cause Marketing Opportunities with New Technologies


MEMBERS

CHAIR Ms. Susan M. Loth

Disabled American Veterans (DAV)

VICE CHAIR Mr. Geoffrey W. Peters

CDR Fundraising Group

Ms. Mary Arnold Consultant

Mr. Vinay Bhagat Convio

Ms. Jennifer Bielat Easter Seals

Ms. Mary Bogucki Amergent

Mr. Brian Cowart ALSAC/St. Jude

Mr. Ken Dawson InfoCision Management Corporation

Ms. Diana Estremera Infogroup | Nonprofit

Ms. Karen Gleason Blackbaud

Ms. Jeanne Harris SCA Direct

Mr. Tom Harrison Russ Reid Company

Mr. Roger Hiyama Barton Cotton

Ms. Karin Kirchoff MINDset direct

Ms. Mimi LeClair Mercy Home for Boys & Girls

Mr. Steve Maggio DaVinci Direct

Mr. Matthew Panos Food for the Hungry

Mr. Chris Paradysz Paradysz

Ms. Chris Ragusa Estee Marketing Group, Inc.

Ms. Kyla Shawyer Operation Smile

Mr. Atul Tandon United Way

Ms. Kim Walker Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center

Ms. Kathy Ward American Institute for Cancer Research

STAFF

Xenia “Senny” Boone, Esq. Senior Vice President

Helen Lee Senior Director

Alicia Osgood Membership Manager

News UpdateNonprofit only news & information delivered to your inbox each ThursdayContact Alicia Osgood at [email protected] to sign up!

2011 LeadershipDMA Nonprofit Federation Advisory Council4

Managing Editor: Alicia Osgood | Publication Design: Leslie Oakey @ leslieoakey.com

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Letter from the EditorAlicia Osgood 4Managing Editor

Dear Readers:

As we begin a new year, it is important to remember all that we achieved by working to-gether as a coalition in 2010. Two big milestones: we protected the charitable deduction and defeated the USPS request for an exigent price increase that would have cost non-profit organizations millions of dollars in additional postage expenses.

With the new Congress, the President’s deficit reduction plan and the USPS appeal of the PRC’s decision to deny the rate increase pending in the US Court of Appeals, now is not the time to be complacent. Please read our weekly email updates, work with your col-leagues on our Government Affairs Committee including Brian Cowart of ALSAC/St. Jude and Kathy Ward of the American Institute for Cancer Research and respond to calls for help from your advocates at the DMA like Senny Boone, Jerry Cerasale and Linda Woolley.

As Sr. Georgette Lehmuth writes in our cover piece Let’s Work Together—The Power of Coalition “I propose we think of ourselves as the “interdependent sector,” which leads col-laboratively and values coalition-building as an effective way to engage ourselves and the other sectors in realizing what is best for the common good.” The empirical evidence of what we can do as a sector when we work together and with others is 2010. Let’s make continuing to work together a resolution we keep in 2011 and beyond.

Also in this edition of the Journal: Senny Boone updates you on our latest challenges via the public policy scorecard, Karen Gebhart of Nexus Direct on the perils of orga-nizational silos, Erica Waasdorp of DMW Direct on lapsed donor reactivation, Megan Gibeau and Andrea Manseau of PEP Direct on the power of premiums, Richard Castera of SankyNet with a Twitter how-to, public relations professional Chet Dalzell with Part II of his piece on the important role of efficiency in environmentally responsible marketing and entrepreneur Abel Stephen on cause marketing—I don’t think its dead either—via new technologies.

I am always looking for great articles like these to include in the Journal. Send me your piece now for the April edition and let me know how you think I can make this publica-tion better.

I hope to see many of you February 17-18 at The Capital Hilton in Washington, DC for the 2011 Washington Nonprofit Conference. To chart a new course for the nonprofit sector, it will take all of us at the helm. Here’s to working together and all that we will continue to accomplish.

Warm regards,

Alicia Osgood Managing Editor [email protected]

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unceasing mudslinging and angry, mis-leading rhetoric, continually fueled by the media. In a country where people are hun-gry and homeless, the obscene amount of money that was spent smearing opponents was nothing less than shameful.

In our cities, crimes involving discrimi-nation continued to dominate our news. The building of a mosque near the site of the September 11th attack in New York be-came a national controversy. Bullying has become such a problem in schools that states are passing legislation to make such behavior criminal. Hatred, revenge and “practical joking” are the fodder for ir-reparable personally destructive behavior on social networking sites. Tolerance is no longer admired as virtuous. Those who do not act, think, vote or look like “us” have become the enemy and wars—personal and political—are declared.

In my opinion, I think our current malaise as a society has a lot to do with interdependence or more appropriately, the lack thereof.

When individuals or groups or entire so-cial systems operate in totally blinding independence, most often the results are destructive at some level. Without being a sociologist, I know that self-serving in-dependence causes irresolvable conflict or stalemate. Politically, whether it is the majority or the minority that remains un-yielding, gridlock results, which is not in the best interest of our country. It is no longer enough to win or to get what we want; we must make sure our opponents lose everything.

Although it is often perceived as being strong, obstinacy is a weak political stance, and in turn weakens the entire political process. A strong political system is one that encourages and supports coalition building.

Coalitions are cooperative joint actions in which each party maintains its self-inter-est while joining together for the sake of the common good. In 2010, our political system struggled miserably and seemed at times to have lost sight of the common good. However, our nonprofit sector, in many instances, chose a different path in its efforts to influence policy for the sake of the common good.

There are all kinds of nonprofit organi-zations in the United States… more than a million of us, actually. Some of us are professional organizations. Others are organized around a specific cause or for the protection of a specific right. Oth-ers are centered on healthcare issues and concerns. Still others have concerns about human rights. Many of us provide social services. Still others provide housing. Other groups, like the organizations my association serves, are faith-based. All of us believe that our organizations in some way help to make the world better.

What we have in common is the common good.The professional groups believe that by keeping their members informed, edu-cated and credentialed, their members will serve society better. Those of us who are “cause-based” groups believe it is im-portant for the welfare of society that our issues be addressed. Those in social ser-vices believe that the greatness of society is measured by how it treats the least of its brothers and sisters. Faith-based groups are motivated by commitment to religious values to be of service to others.

What we have in common is the common good. That is why more and more non-profits are choosing to participate in the Nonprofit Coalition. Together we keep each other abreast of issues of mutual concern. Together we stand strong to ad-dress a number of issues that impact the nonprofit community. These included leg-islative restrictions that would make it more difficult for us to carry out our own mis-sions and/or the missions of our members.

•We spoke for both large and small non-profits in opposing special required course work for fundraisers in the State of New York.

•We argued in other states that placing excessively low salary ceilings on CEOs for nonprofits would jeopardize leadership excellence in our sector.

•We continually worked together to pro-tect tax incentives for charitable giving, including charitable tax deductions, the IRA rollover charitable deduction and the repeal of the estate tax, taking our arguments to Congress, the White House and our publics.

•In the advent of new consumer protection regulation, we made a case for exempting charitable fundraising from some of the new requirements, which would have cost charities lots of time and money.

•In California, we opposed legislation that would not allow nonprofit hospitals to solicit former patients for donations, while strongly supporting patients’ pri-vacy rights.

Together, we have even taken on some of the self-proclaimed experts of certain “watchdog” groups, challenging the reli-ability of some of their statements and findings. We have challenged them to understand that money alone is not a mea-sure of greatness. As Jim Collins states in his monograph, Good to Great and the Social Sectors:

We must reject the idea—well-intentioned, but dead wrong—that the primary path to greatness in the social sectors is to become “more like a business.” (Introduction, p. i)

Most recently, we built an incredible alliance, that criss-crossed a number of sectors in opposing the exigent case for an increase in postage proposed by the United States Postal Service. In the end, the Postal Regulatory Commission voted against the increase, astonishing proof that together we can make a difference for the good of all.

Coalition building is difficult and time-consuming, but is worth the effort. In a true coalition, members must:

•identify an issue of common interest or concern;

•share the incentive to act;

•trust in each other’s good will and commitment to take action;

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•establish guidelines concerning what is and is not negotiable in terms of strate-gies and ideologies of member groups;

•create built-in checks and balances and confirmation points for action steps;

•create a common language and mes-sage that can be articulated clearly and effectively in a variety of ways by all participants;

•benefit in some way from the conse-quences of the actions taken.

•believe that solutions can be found from which all can benefit in some way.

Those engaged in building coalitions must be persons willing to lead through collaboration. Coalition builders are will-ing to take risks. They lead optimistically, believing that the time and energy they are willing to invest will be well worth the effort. They believe that there are always alternatives and they trust the collective wisdom and imagination of the group to find viable solutions.

Collaborative leaders demonstrate both empathy and patience. They are commit-ted to the struggle. They are willing to engage in difficult conversations. They value relationships and there is a place for everyone at their table. Just as in a relay race, runners take turns carrying the baton, collaborative leaders don’t take credit: they share credit. It’s never about them. It is always about the common good and is a powerful tool. As Frances Hassel-bein once stated:

“Oh, you always have power, if you just know where to find it. There is the power of inclusion, and the power of language, and the power of shared interests, and the power of coalition.” (Quoted in Good to Great and the Social Sectors, Jim Collins, p.10)

Our organization is an active member of the Nonprofit Coalition. We were among the first to join the Affordable Mail Al-liance. When we come to the table our collaborative partners know we are com-mitted to finding solutions and working together for the good of all. Our coalition

partners know we represent a community who will support and take action indi-vidually for the sake of their missions and their donors. In political terminology, we speak of the for-profit sector, the govern-ment or political sector, and the nonprofit or independent sector. The adjective “independent” reflects that we are not controlled by business, nor are we agents of the government. Therefore, we are a third sector, independent of the other two groups.

However, I propose we think of ourselves as the “interdependent sector,” which leads collaboratively and values coalition-building as an effective way to engage ourselves and the other sectors in real-izing what is best for the common good. Our collective efforts do make a differ-ence, even in the face of gridlock. It is not about being bipartisan. It is about much more than just two options. Collaboration and coalition-building are about shared wisdom and shared responsibility for that wisdom—something much needed in our political arena and society today.

There is little difference between the intolerable behavior of today’s political rhetoric and the name-calling in our city streets. There is also a lot of “bullying” going on in our world and not just in the classroom. Laws won’t change what hap-pens in our streets or in our schools. Only the willingness to forge relationships and work together will bring about change for the good of all.

Collaborative action and coalition build-ing is a real gift and challenge that our sector can offer our society for the sake of the common good. We believe every non-profit organization has an important role to play in building a collaborative, inter-dependent sector. We are grateful to those who are always ready and willing to come to the coalition table. We are grateful for those in the government sector who are willing to listen to our collective concerns.

Coalition building is not simply another strategy. It is “largely a matter of con-scious choice and discipline.” Incidentally, these are the words Jim Collins uses to describe greatness.

Sr. Georgette Lehmuth, OSF President / CEO National Catholic Development Conference [email protected]

Sr. Georgette Lehmuth, OSF has been President/CEO of NCDC since 2001 and served as the admin-istrator of the organization for one year prior to her permanent appointment.

In 2010, Sr. Georgette was named for the fifth con-secutive year by the Nonprofit Times as on one of the “Power and Influence Top 50” in the nonprofit sector.

Previously, Sr. Georgette was elected to the Board of Directors of NCDC and served her religious commu-nity, the Franciscan Sisters of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, as Development Director, Director of Commu-nications, Director of Justice and Peace, Director of On-Going Formation and as a member of the lead-ership team. She has served on numerous boards and committees for organizations such as NCDC, the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), Habitat for Humanity, Campaign for Human Development, and the Archdiocese of St. Louis. Sr. Georgette also has experience in education and ad-ministration and is a trained facilitator.

Sr. Georgette served as a member of the Independent Sector’s Public Policy Committee and represented NCDC on the Noncash Coalition. She is currently a member of the Board of the Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers, the Affordable Mail Alliance, and the Non-profit Coalition. She also remains actively involved in postal reform issues and has testified before the Postal Regulatory Commission on behalf of the charitable sector. Sister also collaborates with other leadership groups within the Catholic community.

Sr. Georgette has spoken at the conferences of: the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), the Conference of Major Superiors of Men (CMSM), the National Association for Treasurers of Religious Institutes (NATRI), the Association for Fundraising Professionals (AFP) and the Independent Sector. She has also presented at the Ascension Health-Care Council on Philanthropy, Catholic Charities USA Ministry Conference and at the Caritas gathering of charitable fundraisers in Lima, Peru, which repre-sented 24 countries of Central and South America and the Caribbean.

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United States Postal Service

RATES The USPS continues to struggle due to an unprecedented decline in volume and revenue and is seeking to raise rates, reduce delivery days from 6 to five days and still other ways to remain viable. This would hit nonprofits very hard since the lion’s share of funds raised for charity is still obtained via the postal channel. USPS’ efforts to raise rates (by ten times the rate of inflation and at a $3 billion cost to mailers) under the exigency clause provision in postal law was rejected by the PRC due to the efforts of the DMA, DMANF and our members via the Afford-able Mail Alliance. An appeal is underway by the USPS in the US Court of Appeals in the DC Circuit Court. The DMA and the coalition support the PRC decision to keep the rates within the Consumer Price Index (CPI) cap.

CPI CAP The PRC recently issued a ruling on calculation of the CPI cap for postage in-creases. As you know, under current law, the USPS may increase rates based on the CPI. The ruling simply states that USPS uses the last 12 month period to deter-mine the CPI cap. The law allows USPS to “bank” any unused portion of a cap to be used later (must be used within 5 years).

For example, if CPI were 10% and USPS raised rates 8%, it would bank 2%. So in the next year if there is a 10% CPI, USPS could raise rates 12% (10% CPI plus 2% banked). The question presented for the ruling was whether the USPS may ignore the deflation of the previous year when asking for new postage. PRC ruled that it may and that the negative CPI can be banked.

However, banking a negative CPI which the USPS could use in the future means that the inflation capped postage rates will never reflect a negative CPI—USPS customers will always pay more. DMA is not in favor of the decision and please stay tuned for more information.

NEW USPS PMG After nearly 10 years as U.S. Postmaster General and CEO of the U.S. Postal Ser-vice, John E. Potter retired after 32 years of service to the USPS. The Governors of the Postal Service named Patrick R. Dona-hoe to succeed Potter.

Potter is credited with modernizing management, introducing long-term, strategic thinking necessary in a com-plex and changing marketplace, and transforming the Postal Service into a service-driven customer-focused and cost-sensitive organization.

Potter’s accomplishments include:

✓ Eliminating more than $20 billion in costs during the last 10 years, with cumulative savings of more than $50 billion.

✓ Building a leaner, more flexible work-force and increasing efficiency and productivity through technology and the expansion of automation in mail processing and delivery.

✓ Reducing career employment from 787,000 positions in 2001 to about 584,000 today through attrition, using strong and focused management practices.

✓ Leading the Postal Service and the nation through the anthrax terrorist attack following 9/11.

POSTAL LEGISLATION Senator Tom Carper (D-DE) recently introduced the Postal Operations and Sustainment Act (POST) of 2010 to aid the USPS in these tough times. Accord-ing to Senator Carper, the bill attempts to permanently address the pension and re-tiree health issues that have been a drain on postal finances over the years. The bill would recognize the overpayment

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Public Policy Scorecard

Please contactSenny Boone at [email protected] if you have questions or comments.



for postal pensions that both the USPS Inspector General (IG) and the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) found. The Office of Personnel Management would be required to recalculate pension costs using the IG and PRC formula. This recalculation would result in a finding that the Postal Service and its customers had over funded CSRS by about $50 bil-lion. Senator Carper’s bill would give the Postal Service more than $5 billion each year from this $50 billion overpayment to put toward its retiree health payments, which total more than $5.5 billion annu-ally through 2016.

Another provision of the Carper bill would give the Postal Service authority to reduce delivery frequency when neces-sary. The bill would also eliminate several provisions in the law that force the Postal Service to maintain post offices that are no longer necessary in turn allowing the Postal Service to open cheaper, more con-venient retail options such as automated kiosks or postal stations located in grocery stores or other places where potential cus-tomers already shop regularly.

Under current law, the Postal Service is prohibited—with a few exceptions—from offering “non-postal” products and ser-vices. Senator Carper’s bill would revise this prohibition, allowing the Postal Ser-vice to offer non-postal products that are in the public interest and make use of the existing postal network. Additionally, the bill would allow the Postal Service to ship wine and beer—a service that UPS and FedEx already provide—and to work with state and local governments to use postal retail locations to serve citizens seeking to access services such as voter registration or driver’s license renewal.

Finally, if labor negotiations between USPS and its unions reach an impasse and then move to arbitration, the bill requires the arbitrators to take the Postal Service’s financial condition into account, along with other factors such as the comparabil-ity requirement and the details of the rate system when making their decision.

It is important to note that the bill would provide relief starting in the next fiscal year, FY11.

DMA will work closely with Congress on this legislation. It will likely be debated in the next Congress. Nonprofit mailers will be a major focus for us as we need to en-sure nonprofit rates are protected.

Charitable Deduction As legislators and policy-makers seek ways to fund their initiatives and reduce spend-ing, or both, there are more calls to limit the charitable deduction that individuals can take. Although the effort to reduce the deduction to fund parts of the health reform bill failed (thanks to the DMANF and a broad coalition) there are other proposals at the state (namely New York) and federal level, including within the President’s deficit commission report. It is likely to resurface in 2011 and it is also an issue that could lead to other new re-strictions on tax-exempt organizations as policymakers look to new funding sources and may push harder on charities than in years past. Members must be ready to mo-bilize as we review upcoming proposals.

Form 1099 Filings The recently enacted health care reform law will expand the reporting require-ments for Form 1099-MISC business. Nonprofits must file annually for individu-als and partnerships to which they paid a total of $600 or more in the calendar year for rents, services, and financial transac-tions. The new law, which will take effect in 2012, will broaden the requirement for filing a Form 1099-MISC to include all corporations (except tax-exempt or-ganizations) from whom a business or nonprofit has purchased $600 or more in goods, as well as rents, services, and finan-cial transactions.

Significant concerns have been raised by the nonprofit and business commu-nity about the time and cost involved in complying with these regulations. There are several proposals pending in Con-gress that would modify or repeal the new rules, and President Obama has called the new requirements “burdensome,” and has pledged to work with Congressional leaders to find an appropriate fix, but the legislative calendar is too tight for an immediate fix.

FTC Expansion over Nonprofits Curtailed As we have been reporting, the Consumer Financial Protection Agency Act (CFPA) gave sweeping authority to a newly cre-ated agency to protect consumers in the financial services and products area by transferring authority from a number of existing federal agencies, including the Federal Trade Commission, to the new agency. But the legislation went beyond consolidating the actions of the financial regulators in one agency, and included broad authority over the advertising and marketing of a wide range of financial products and services, which could po-tentially have included many nonprofit organizations. The CFPA would have given the Federal Trade Commission greater rulemaking powers in these areas, as well as expand the scope of the FTC’s remaining enforcement authority over non-financial activity. Thankfully, the provisions that would have imposed new regulations and fees on the activities of nonprofits were removed. The DMANF succeeded in making sure that chari-table giving activities were not covered so that the mere act of raising money, or communicating with donors about their contributions would sweep charities into a broad new regulatory regime. Since there is always a possibility that the FTC would seek to expand its authority over charities, the DMANF will continue to monitor this area throughout the coming year.

If you wish to receive nonprofit fundraising legislative updates on a monthly basis, please email Alicia Osgood at [email protected].

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How many timescan you have your ? Karen Gebhart Senior Vice President and General Manager, Nexus Direct

1. $50 membership dues invoiced annually2. $40 add-on with membership dues invoice for an insurance coverage benefit

3. $30 suggested PAC donation to support political work4. $40 suggested Foundation donation to support a new initiative

5. $60 add-on for a specific professional benefit program6. $30 suggested donation for an advocacy PR campaign

As we enter the New Year, we have high hopes for a return to the “good times,” but realistically we know that is unlikely. Our economy has not recovered, so it is time to reconcile the last two years and move forward. How will 2011 shape up for the nonprofit world? And how will consumers behave when asked to provide financial support?

Consider your own behavior as a starting place. You participate in personal and professional interests, but how do you react when the long arm of giving reaches your doorstep? This begs the question—how many times can you have your hand out? When does that next “ask” become the tipping point toward diminishing returns?

As we examine the many ways we look for financial support, we need to consider all the methods and types of asks. Although we may believe that our reason for asking is clear and focused inside our industry, does the average consumer see it that way?

Let’s look at a case study of an organization, and how the consumer may view their ask. As a special-interest Association, this organization fights for the rights of their members, and provides free education-based benefits. They also offer many discounted products and services. The advocacy efforts include “special alerts” about campaigns to address legislative and regulatory issues. And there is a Foundation to support the promotion of the good work this industry provides to expand awareness.

In this case, we are looking at a total ask of $250 in financial support within the first three months of the year. As is typical in the nonprofit world, once the consumer’s membership renewal is received and processed, the solicita-tions don’t stop.

In this scenario, there are many ways in which this organization will reach out to their members for support throughout the year. For the

purposes of understanding overall communication planning, this example depicts the marketing efforts for just the

first quarter of the year:

hand out

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Now let’s look at the message strategy for each of these solicitations. The member-ship dues reminder tells the consumer how important it is to be part of this organization. Perhaps there is a special incentive offer to encourage an early re-newal of membership. Next, an offer is added onto the membership invoice for supplemental insurance, with a message that ties lapsed coverage with a reduced level of well-being and safety. A week later, this member is sent a solicitation for the PAC, indicating an immediate need for financial support to fight for the issue at hand.

In the same week, the member is solicited by the Foundation, with an appeal to help support an educational incentive. Only two weeks later, a solicitation arrives for a new medical program with profession-spe-cific benefits. Another week goes by, and a special appeal requests a donation to sup-port an advocacy campaign.

How does this consumer feel at this point about the relationship? And what is their view of this organization?

Oftentimes, organizations with good intentions do not recognize how their operational silos impact the constitu-ent relationship. In this example, several internal initiatives solicit the member-ship. However, without a planned and purposeful marketing matrix, these vari-ous departments have no idea how their respective solicitations impact each other. Although this example may seem extreme, it actually happens frequently in many organizations. Regardless of how the orga-nization is structured, the consumer really sees these multiple solicitations coming from one source.

What is the solution? Do you aggregate every solicitation into One Big Ask? Do you stagger these offers so the consumer is solicited once a month? Does the commu-nication channel make a difference—be it direct mail, email or telemarketing? These

questions should be addressed within the goals and objectives of an organization while plans are created. But the reality is this: departmental objectives compete with and distract from an ideal master communication plan. So who owns the priority pecking order?

Let’s go back to the basics. First we need to recognize the core mission of the or-ganization. If a robust membership base is required to make a big impression on Capitol Hill, membership acquisitions and retention efforts should come first. Before we upsell other products and services, or ask for money to support causes, we need to ensure they are current members.

If the organization is primarily a Founda-tion, the primary goal is to acquire and retain the donor base. This means push-ing out a strong, caused-based giving appeal that sells the mission’s success with donor support. The first priority in this case is to increase this base of giving and renew the donors’ support each year.

When the priority is advocacy related, the message of fighting for rights and privi-leges should lead. In contrast to a PAC fundraising effort, which may focus on a time-sensitive vote or agenda, an advocacy campaign may have a longer time frame to get the message heard by those who influence the issue. It is understood that these donors are very focused on the issue and legislative or regulatory action.

Selling of benefits is usually secondary. Endorsed products and services, used by the membership, help support the organi-zation with financial compensation. The message is usually focused on how consum-ers show pride or passive financial support of the organization by using endorsed benefits. They are often turnkey, and the provider may do the marketing. Although critical to the financial health of the or-ganization, these offerings cannot collide with the core mission—or impede primary fundraising efforts—of the organization.

Going back to the original question—“How many times can you have your hand out?” really comes down to how you set your organization’s priorities and your overall member communication plan. Consumers are barraged with solicitations by email multiple times a day, through the mail daily or weekly, and even the occa-sional phone call. It is critical to establish a communication calendar crossing all so-licitation initiatives that reach out to your members or donors. A simple technique to ensure all the right questions are being asked of those in charge of these solicita-tions is to follow this familiar formula:

4WHO is being solicited? (based on how you segment your file)

4WHAT is being solicited? (for donation, membership, product sale—what is the offer, the message, the content of the solicitation)

4WHEN is this solicitation going to reach your audience? (in home date, email send date, call date)

4WHERE is this solicitation coming from? (be clear and consistent on how you manage your audience’s view on the source of this communication, with-in your organization)

4WHY do you need financial support now? (intent of the action you want your audience to take, the message strategy)

4HOW will you send this communi-cation? (direct mail, email, phone, in-person, event)

Once you have answered these questions for each solicitation, the next step is to re-group across the organization to identify overlaps or conflicts in who is being solicit-ed, what is being offered, and when and

continued on page 12

First we need to recognize the core mission of the organization.



how it is being sent. Make sure the mes-sage is consistent if the communication strategy crosses many initiatives as well.

The last step is the results regroup with the same team that established the mar-keting communication matrix. Whether monthly or quarterly, the team needs to understand the implications from the re-sults of the various efforts. What worked, what didn’t, and why. Adjust the matrix as needed to maximize results. This may mean adjusting solicitation timing, fre-quency or audience.

In the end, consumers have an assump-tion that the organization recognizes them as individuals with unique moti-vations, interests and needs. How you customize your solicitations to achieve the best results is dependent on your market-ing communication strategy across the entire organization. There are still only 100 pennies in a dollar, and how each con-sumer decides to give them back to their areas of interest is contingent on how smart you are in asking. But in this

economic environment, if you have your hand out too often without considering how your audience perceives these asks, you may not continue to get the results you expect.

Karen Gebhart is the Senior VP and General Manager at Nexus Direct (www.NexusDirect.com), a direct response marketing firm specializing in driving human behavior to grow their clients’ busi-ness by embodying the relationship clients have with their customers. Nexus Direct is headquartered in Virginia Beach VA, and Karen leads the D.C. office located in Alexandria, VA.

Before joining Nexus Direct, Karen served for 16 years as an association and foundation Executive VP, leading significant growth in the fundrais-ing, membership marketing and non-dues revenue areas, and also managed the communications, PR, digital and print publications divisions. Prior to her association work, she spent 10 years as VP of Account Services at Barry Blau and Partners, a direct marketing firm, managing financial accounts in their Chicago and Baltimore offices.

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13

An organization with whom we’ve been working for over 5 years (who wishes to remain anonymous) was in the enviable position of having a very large active donor base.

However, this organization’s lapsed donor population made up almost 60% of its total donor base. While the organization had long focused significant efforts on making the most of those lapsed donors through their messaging and direct mail strategies, they were looking for a new approach to reactivate them in the most cost- effective and responsive way.

Original Approach to Lapsed Donor Reactivation The organization had successfully mailed its 13-18 month donors with a proven house file appeal (such as a rosary offer or membership card). They also successfully utilized bi-annual telemarketing campaigns to reactivate approximately 15% of their 19+ month donors who had given more than once before lapsing. The telemarketing campaigns were outsourced to the same agency handling their monthly giving program so they were very familiar with the organization’s programs.

The organization used to include its 19+ month donors in its prospecting appeals. Response results were similar to prospecting, at an average 3% response rate and $12.50 average gift.

About a month after the initial prospecting appeal, this same group then would receive an inexpensive ply pack as a follow-up, generating an additional 3% response rate.

Because of their large numbers, lapsed donors have the ability to make a significant impact on the annual budget. However mailing to all of them was costly and inefficient. The organization was looking for ways to reactivate more donors than ever before and cut costs. The challenge, therefore, was to identify those lapsed donors with the highest propensity to renew their giving—thereby reducing mail quantity (and cost) and increasing response rates.

The Test In conjunction with DMW Direct’s Media group and our data processing partner, we designed a merge/purge process that would iden-tify lapsed donors who matched against one or more outside lists. The goal was to isolate previous donors who were still current donors to other organizations. The comparison against other lists accomplished two things: a. we knew the donor’s address was still current and b. we knew that they were still giving to one or more similar organizations.


How you can

BREATHE NEW LIFEinto lapsed donors and DOUBLE your results!

This DMW Direct LAPSED Case Study is presented by Erica Waasdorp, Senior Consultant at DMW Direct. For more information, contact her at [email protected] or 508.202.4011.



The lapsed donors were split into recency groups of 13-24 months, 25-36 months, 37-48 months, 49-60 months and 60+ months. Each was then split in two groups: those who hit against outside lists (we called them lapsed multis) and those who only were on one or more other organizations’ list (lapsed single buyers). Creative testing was limited to ask amount. All groups received the same creative package, based upon the lapsed control package and offer.

The Results Were Astounding… As we suspected, the response rate of the lapsed multis was significantly higher than that of the lapsed single buyers—7.48% vs. 4.22%.

The chart below left shows the response rates for the lapsed donors who are on the orga-nization’s file only versus those who hit against at least one other prospect list.

Because these givers are still giving to multiple organizations, their average gift (chart above right) was markedly lower—$10.41 vs. $12.50. This slightly lower average gift is more than offset by the increased response rate. Overall the results for the lapsed donor multis generated an additional $250 per 1,000 mailed making it a very worthwhile test (see chart below).

A Bonus Group! We also mailed to one additional group: their do not mail list. They were carrying a large number of people who at some point indicated that they did not wish to receive mail. The organization had since revised its focus a bit and we were hopeful that the reason for not wishing to receive mail might have subsided. We therefore con-ducted the same match process with this no-mail file as we did for lapsed donors. Only the cell that matched was mailed the control prospecting package and the results were truly astounding, 14% re-sponded with a donation.

Additional Cost Minimal The incremental cost of the test was minimal. The findings occur naturally in a standard merge/purge process. The only additional costs were for preparing the additional mail files for the multiple test groups.

Next Steps Overall retention rate for the lapsed donor has now improved 11% compared to last year. The organization currently includes the lapsed reactivation approach with outside list comparison twice a year, in spring and fall. In addition, a telemar-keting campaign is scheduled for those lapsed multi donors who have not yet re-sponded to see if they can reactivate them.

The organization is tracking these reactivated donors separately. Initial results indicate that they respond very similarly to or better than brand new donors in that they respond to house file mailings AND they convert to monthly giving.

Erica Waasdorp, Senior Consultant, is re-sponsible for management of donor, membership and monthly giving programs for a diverse group of nonprofit organizations, locally, regionally, nationally and internationally.

Erica has more than 25 years of direct marketing experience in fundraising and publishing, including seven years as fundraising manager at the Interna-tional Fund for Animal Welfare, responsible for its monthly giving programs. She has worked for DMW for more than 10 years, helping her clients raise mil-lions of dollars. Her most recent accomplishment was to help her client double their active donor base to more than 130,000 donors and help them convert 20% of its base to monthly givers.

Erica is very active in the professional community. She is a past board member of the Direct Market-ing Fundraisers Association, past co-chair of the DMA Nonprofit Conference in Washington DC, ac-tive member of the planning committee for the AFP/DMAW Bridge Conference, member of the Asso-ciation of Fundraising Professionals (AFP), regular industry conference speaker, and columnist for numerous trade publications, including Market-ing Advents (DMAW), Journal of the DMA Nonprofit Federation, and Successful Fundraising. In addition, because Erica is Dutch originally, she writes for the Dutch magazine Vakblad Fondsenwerving.

Erica speaks five languages, lives on Cape Cod, is married with two children and a cat. She is an avid reader, plays golf and likes to go flying with her husband Pat.

0%

1%

2%

3%

4%

5%

6%

7%

8%

Lapsed Donors MatchingNo Rented Lists

Lapsed Donors Matchingat Least One Rented List

4.22%

7.48%

$0

$5

$10

$15



$12.50

$10.41

$0

$100

$200

$300

$400

$500

$600

$700

$800

$900



$527.96

$777.99

Average GiftResponse Rate

Gifts per 1,000 mailings

0%

1%

2%

3%

4%

5%

6%

7%

8%



4.22%

7.48%

$0

$5

$10

$15



$12.50

$10.41

$0

$100

$200

$300

$400

$500

$600

$700

$800

$900



$527.96

$777.99

Average GiftResponse Rate

Gifts per 1,000 mailings

15

Innovation can mean the introduc-tion of something brand new. It can also mean the reintroduction of something that has been reformed! We’ve recently seen the introduction of social media and mobile giving and these have been deemed the innovative future of fundraising, while more tradi-

tional channels, such as direct mail—and even e-mail —have been declared “dead”.

What fundraisers have found, though, is that it is prema-ture to be writing direct mail’s obituary. Instead of growing

ineffective, direct mail has become more innovative and revolu-tionized itself to develop into “Generation 2.0”.

Direct Mail 2.0 doesn’t throw out the decades of knowledge amassed by fund-raisers; rather it builds on them. You have extensively tested which segments to mail at which times of the year. You have an in-timate knowledge of who your donors are and how they relate to your organization.

What you likely haven’t explored are all of the new doors today’s direct mail premi-ums can (and will) open. Gone are the days of relying on generic name and ad-dress labels—as donors’ tastes become more sophisticated, so too must your pre-mium offerings. Name and address labels are still in and working, but how will yours grab the donors’ interests and communi-cate your need for their gift?

To illustrate the innovation surrounding premiums, here are seven reasons why premiums are the next “big” idea.

1. Premiums are a good thing! A premium added to your fundraising package is an instant attention grab-ber. The increased weight and visual draw make your appeal stand out in the mailbox increasing the likelihood that it will be opened and a connec-tion with the donor is made.

2. Premium donors do renew. Many long-standing, successful direct mail programs have been built and sustained using premiums. Donors as-sociate the gifts they receive through the mail with your organization and look forward to receiving more. This builds the type of long-term relation-ship that all fundraisers aim for.

3. They combine strategy, art & science. Premiums are so much more than just throwing something in a package to garner attention. The premium used is chosen based on a strategic analysis of your donors, knowl-edge of what they respond to, and what will motivate them to give again.

4. They appeal to diverse donor audiences. Depending on your goal, your premiums can be modi-fied to speak to donors of all ages, backgrounds and genders. Art can be segmented to reach different age groups and genders; while you might find that different populations will respond to one type of premium over another. Again, this will be deter-mined through strategic planning and extensive testing.


Megan Gibeau and Andrea Manseau, PEP Direct



5. Premium donors can be mission-based. Forget everything you’ve heard—premium donors do give because they want to support your mission. Your premiums can directly communicate what that is and create advocates for your cause. Donors can use the premiums they receive to show their affiliation to friends and family members, increasing their pride in their support, as well as potentially en-listing future donors to your cause.

6. They are great integration devices. Premiums can be the missing link be-tween channels. You can use a free gift to drive donors from one medium to another to further engage them with your organization, or to obtain more very useful information about them. One example would be a premium offer made in a direct mail piece that can be redeemed by supplying an e-mail address on your Web site.

7. They’ve come a long way. As part of Generation 2.0, we have the flex-ibility to put new things in the mail, revitalize previous formats and add en-hancements. Those name and address labels mentioned earlier can be bun-dled with other premiums or receive a new art or foil treatment, which could revitalize a longstanding control. Or your program might benefit from something that you never thought to mail before.

Look at what your fellow nonprofit organizations are mailing and you will see many of them are reaching out to their donors through premium direct mail packages. Also, remember that while new methods of communicating with your donors are rapidly emerging—Facebook, Twitter, Apps—the tried and true has reached the next generation of fundraising, and will prove to be an effective vehicle in supporting your organization’s mission.

Megan Gibeau is Senior Vice President, Strate-gic and Client Services, and Andrea Manseau is Sales & Marketing Specialist for PEP Direct, a full-service direct marketing agency specializing in strategic premium fundraising. They can be reached at [email protected] and [email protected].

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17

Twitter is a fantastic tool yet, not many organizations know how to use it or, the benefits that can be achieved with it as a fun-draising tool. This article will provide an introduction to those of you who have not joined the flock, while providing tips for organizations that are currently on Twitter; and how to use it as a tool for engagement, communication and acquisition.

First let’s dispel some common misconceptions about the service itself. Some believe it to be another Social Networking platform such as Facebook but that’s not entirely true. Twitter is actually generally used as an informational tool and less as a Social Networking service but, that’s widely up for debate and not what this article is about. Twitter is a hybrid between a blog and a Social Network and while it does have some of those components, it was originally intended to be a micro-blogging service. It has evolved from its inception to much more than that though.

Recently, uses of the service range from posting updates about what’s going on in one’s personal life, to using it as a customer service portal. The blog aspect is what allows users to chronicle 140 character ‘tweets’ that are publicly viewable on their profile, and shared among followers. One of the Social Networking features of Twitter is allowing people to ‘follow’ each other and become part of each other’s Twitter conversations. Your followers can then also ‘retweet’ your messages to their own followers.

Twitter: Fundraising, Engagement & Tools

Richard Castera Web Technology Director, SankyNet

So why use it?

CULTIVATION AND ENGAGEMENT As an organization, it’s your duty to en-gage and cultivate your constituents. Communication allows you to achieve this. Sure email and direct mail work great as communication tools but, remem-ber Social Media is about conversation as well and, not just about sharing. You’ll get much better results if you take the time to actually engage and garner constituents using several mediums.

IT’S IN THE NUMBERS According to an ExactTarget study, US Twit-ter users in April 2010 were far more likely than general Internet users to post to fo-rums (75% vs. 25%), blogs (72% vs. 14%), comment on blogs (70% vs. 23%)

and post ratings/reviews (61% vs. 20%). Those are some big numbers to ignore. Sharing a compelling message and having it spread virally across several networks of websites and reaching existing and poten-tial constituents, is a powerful tool to have in your fundraising arsenal.

Twitter’s growth has been phenomenal! It now has 175 million registered users, which is up from 145 million users in September. That means the startup added around 30 million users, in less than two months; and Twitter has added 70 million users since April (Techcrunch). It should be no surprise that people now spend more time on So-cial Networking sites than email.

INCREASED VISIBILITY Search Engines index your tweets since they are publicly viewable and accessible by anyone on the internet. If you post tweets containing keywords about your mission or the great things that your or-ganization is doing, there’s a good chance search engines will display them in search results when your keywords are contained within them. So not only are you reaching a wide array of audiences, but you’re mak-ing great strides in your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) efforts as well!




So how do I use it?

CREATING AN ACCOUNT Well the first thing you’ll want to do is create an account; and did I mention it’s free! You’ll need an email address and a username. Remember to pick a name that closely matches your organization and if that’s not available, try something that’s close enough to your mission. This will help in your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) efforts as well.

Once logged in, you’ll see that Twitter has a very easy to use interface. There is noth-ing intimidating about it at all. You’ll see there’s a nice big textbox to post updates similar to Facebook. The difference is in the methods which Twitter provides you to post updates. You’re limited to 140 char-acters of text to share with your followers. This is great because it allows you to post concise, digestible messages.

TWEETING You’ll want to moderately post quality updates every day. There isn’t an exact science to this yet but, they should be unique, provide information and include links in the form of call to actions when necessary. The velocity and quantity of your tweets is something that you’ll want to pay special attention to as posting too often, could be considered as spam so, it’s not encouraged as followers may decide to ‘un-follow’ you. The end-all goal is not to just broadcast information but to consume it as well. That means getting your follow-ers involved in your campaigns by asking them, questions and providing feedback.

RE-TWEETING Re-tweeting is how Twitter users re-post and share interesting tweets from people they are following. When you re-tweet someone’s tweet, it’s posted on your pro-file to be seen be your followers. One usually does this to give credit to the author for sharing an interesting post or link.

TWEETING AND SHARING LINKS When tweeting and including a link, it’s standard to use a URL shortening service such as http://bit.ly to shorten your URL’s since your limited to the amount of char-acters that you can post. There are several URL shortening services on the internet

today but, Bit.ly seems to be the most fa-vored because of its wide use and statistics it provides on links clicked.

USE OF HASH TAGS (#) Twitter hash tags are a great tool for find-ing, following and participating in topical discussions. This is kind of like tagging your post or tweet. You can create a hash tag by simply adding a hash symbol (#) to the front of an appropriate keyword as you write your tweet (for example, if I were an organization working with hun-ger, I would post something like, “You can help end world #hunger by participating in this poll http://bit.ly/df3Rs”.

Find industry leaders & others involved in your causes @ search.twitter.com

BUILDING FOLLOWERS Building steady followers is something that fluctuates. It can be analogous to real life and how we establish friendships with real people. It can be a slow process as people are getting to know you and your tweets. Followers can grow exponentially as well when your message, a blog post or campaign becomes viral. Here are some tips to help you build your relationships.

• Use http://search.twitter.com to find industry leaders or other organizations that are involved in the same causes as you and follow them. This will let them know that you’re on Twitter and they could potentially re-tweet a post to their followers that can garner more followers for you. This is usually done on Friday’s on what’s called Follow Fridays. If you see a post with the hash tag ‘#FF’ that’s what it means. This will also provide you some insight as to what they are posting and doing as an organization.

• Twitter has ‘Direct Messages’ that are similar to an email inbox. Prepare a predefined direct message thanking people for following your organization and including links to find additional information about your mission as well. This is good Twitter etiquette.

• Re-tweet for Good Karma. When you re-tweet a post, you’re re-posting some-one else’s status to your followers, and it can make a Twitter user’s day!

• Always make sure to thank people who re-tweet your posts; your @mentions as it’s called, and reply to everyone who addresses a tweet to you.

Engaging your Audience

TURNING FOLLOWERS INTO RELATIONSHIPS One of the hardest things to do as a fun-draiser is to maintain relationships. In Twitter, you’ll want to keep the flow of communication open. Don’t treat your constituents like constituents. Get in-volved and present yourself as real person. Interact with them, and let them know what your organization is doing. You need to provide a human experience behind this communication spectrum.

KEEPING UP WITH UPDATES Keeping the communication lines open can require a full-time staff person. That’s why we encourage our clients to use some of the tools that are recommended in this article and some that we’ve developed in-house at SankyNet. For instance, one of our many tools is a program that will automatically submit posts to Social Net-works when you add a new page, news articles or blog posts to your website. This is great for organizations with smaller staffs but should not be com pletely sub-stituted; rather used in conjunction with hands-on tweeting.

19

WHAT SHOULD I TWEET? Thinking about what to tweet about can be challenging at times. You’ll want to tweet about topics of substance or things that you would find useful if you were reading them. I recommend you start tweeting a combination of the following to help:

• Link to your presentations or videos.

• Mentions of attending or speaking at events

• Announcing the publication of your newsletter’s latest issue, along with a brief description and a link to the online version.

• Reporting industry and company related interests.

• Talk about the impact your organiza-tion is making. Everyone likes a happy story.

• Do a contest to increase the viral effect of your fundraising efforts.

In addition to the tools listed in the table at right, there are also several tools that provide additional functionality com-pared to Twitter’s native platform that you might be interested in using. They in-clude additional features such as multiple accounts, managing other social network-ing accounts, scheduled posts, etc; all under one dashboard. Some are better than others. I’ve listed some of them below for you to try and find which works best for your organization.

http://www.hootsuite.com/ http://www.cotweet.com/ http://www.tweetdeck.com/ http://www.seesmic.com/

So from a fundraising perspective, Twitter is an amazing tool to engage your existing and potential constituents. Our client’s have had great success with it and we hope you do too! Good luck!

Richard Castera has spent more than 9 years in the technology field mostly as a Developer, SEO and SMO strategist and most recently, as an entrepreneur an avid blogger. He’s currently employed as the Web Technology Director at SankyNet, a New York City based company that specializes in fundraising for Nonprofits. You can get in touch with him by following him on twitter.com/rcastera.

10 FREE Tools & Services to help you become a Twitter masterWhile there are several tools and services on the market to help you become a more efficient twitter user, I’ve listed some of the most popular ones that we recommend and use ourselves.

Tool & Service Description

Twilert twilert.com

It’s a free web application that enables you to receive regular email updates of tweets containing your username, hash tag or any keyword.

Twitter Grader twittergrader.com

A tool to help you determine how influential you are on Twitter

Tweet Backup tweetbackup.com

A tool that backups your tweets.

Tweet Statstweetstats.com

Get statistics about your account.

Social Mentionsocialmention.com

Provides real-time social media search and analysis

Twit Pictwitpic.com

TwitPic lets you share photos on Twitter in real-time.

Tweet Effecttweeteffect.com

This tool is incredibly valuable if you are focused on reaching the most followers possible. Simply enter your Twitter handle and the application determines which of your recent tweets affected your following.

LaterBrolaterbro.com

You can schedule recurring Facebook updates or schedule tweets from multiple Twitter accounts! Tools mentioned in the article (HootSuite and CoTweet) do this as well.

Twt Polltwtpoll.com

Is a tool to engage your customers, ask questions, and get feedback through the use of polls. (Free limited service.)

Bitlybit.ly

Bitly helps you share, track, and analyze your links.

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A ll donor and membership organizations have opportunities to bolster their triple bottom line—economic, social and environmental

—by adhering to the Direct Marketing Association Green 15 practices and principles.

In this second installment, we look at how nonprofits can benefit from the Green 15 in their direct mail de-sign and production, fulfillment and recycling/pollution prevention practices. Additionally, there are opportunities in greening digital marketing, too. Simply roll up your sleeves, and get started in these “easy to implement” efforts that address the entire fundraising and member/donor communication spectrum.

DMA Green 15 Mail Design & Production Principles and Practices

MAIL DESIGN & PRODUCTION It’s not just the paper and other materials you use, it’s how you use them. Simple changes to your mail pieces can make them more environmental friendly —and often more cost efficient as well.

Your Green 15 requirements:

9. Review your direct mail and printed marketing pieces, and test downsized pieces when and where appropriate.

10. Test and use production methods that reduce print order overruns, waste allowances and in-process waste.

Here we always hope to “beat the control” with a creative testing strategy (practice 9). Print media invites examining various creative techniques that use lighter or less materials (source reduction), or a more homogenous mix of materials (to protect recyclability). Are the premiums, tactile devices, lift notes, and other collateral used to lift response able to be reduced in size or weight, without sacrificing response? Can a double-sided long-form letter be reduced in page count, without sacrificing response?

Likewise, the complexity of the mailing—and its mix of materials—might have an effect on the required amounts of print order over-runs and waste allowances. The more streamlined the production, the more likely lower waste allowances can be achieved (practice 10).


Environmentally Responsible Marketing & Donors: It’s all about Efficiency Part 2 of 2 Chet Dalzell Part I appeared in the September 2010 issue of the Journal of the DMA Nonprofit Federation



It’s tempting to think “less is always better.” However, DMA recommends testing these recommended practices. Environmental practices are useless if donor dollars in response are sacrificed—and no one is asking charities to give up donations in exchange for fewer market-ing materials. The desired outcome is simply to determine the optimal level of printed materials needed to keep waste at a minimum, while determining the optimal use of mail and other media channels to generate overall return. When waste is identified, a financial savings is always the direct result. Such outcomes require an ongoing testing regimen so that the resulting creative strategy yields these multiple benefits.

DMA Green 15 Packaging/Fulfillment Principle and Practice

PACKAGING No matter what marketing channels your organization uses for direct sales, how you package and ship customer orders and other fulfillment commitments is an important environmental consideration.

Your Green 15 requirement:

11. Encourage packaging suppliers to submit alternate solutions for environmentally preferable packaging, in addition to quoting prices on approved or existing specifications.

Not every charity or organization has a fulfillment program, so this practice may not be universally applicable. For those that do, the goal here is to examine packaging sizes and materials to optimize a shipping carton’s product-to-space ratios in conjunction with minimized or avoided product damage. Additionally, choice of materials can convey and communicate environmental attributes of a brand. Most pa-perboard cartons are available in 100 percent post-consumer content and are an excellent use of recycled fiber (while printing and writing grades may be excellent use of virgin fibers). Cartons, too, can be easily right-sized for a wide variety of merchandise shipping.

Polystyrene packaging “peanuts” often are derided because they are plastic, yet they perform brilliantly as fill to prevent spoilage or damage. If an organization participates in the national recycling and reuse program for “peanuts,” taking part can be a plus for the en-vironment. Sealed air (in plastic), paper fill, corn starch-based and other alternate packaging materials might be tested for efficacy and shipped with an insert communication that reports to the donor why specific materials were chosen and, if applicable, how the materials might be recycled locally. [According to the Federal Trade Commission, marketing claims for “recyclability” may only be made for mate-rials that can be collected locally in two-thirds of U.S. municipalities. Mixed paper and paperboard used in packaging currently fall into this “recyclability” category.]

DMA Green 15 Principles and Practices for Recycling & Pollution Prevention—and a Note on Digital

RECYCLING & POLLUTION REDUCTION Not just in your organization’s marketing operations, but throughout your office, there are steps you can take o reduce your organization’s environmental footprint, and encourage your customers to do the same.

Your Green 15 requirements:

12. Purchase office papers, packing and packaging materials made from recycled materials with postconsumer content where appropriate.

13. Integrate use of electronic communications (email, Web and intranets) for external and internal communications.

14. Ensure that all environmental labeling is clear, honest and complete, so that consumers and business customers may know the exact nature of what your organization is doing.

15. Participate in DMA’s “Recycle Please” campaign and/or in another recycling campaign and/or demonstrate that your company or organization has in place a program to encourage recycling in your workplace and/or your community.

23

Buying recycled (practice 12) supports re-cycling collection and the use and re-use of paper fiber. Printing and writing grades can be a superb first-use of virgin fiber. The long, strong individual fibers support recycling manufacturing down the line.

Even printing and writing grades of paper with a hefty percentage of post-consumer recycled content rely on virgin fibers for a portion of their content. That’s hard to fault environmentally so the choice depends on price and availability. Today most recycled printing and writing papers perform just as well as their virgin coun-terparts from a marketing perspective. However, despite common perceptions, specifying “post-consumer recycled con-tent” in printing and writing grades may not always be the best environmental option. Once you move to purposes and categories that require a lesser grade such as packaging, paperboard, newsprint and tissues, post-consumer recycling content is more readily achieved so it’s easy to specify “post-consumer” in these latter categories.

Oh, how misunderstood is the migration to digital (practice 13) as far as environ-mental attributes are concerned. It’s worth a column all by itself. Nearly everyone be-lieves “going digital” means “going green,” and if one considers the collective chorus of utilities and banks and other marketers trying to get their customers to transact only online “to save a tree,” it would be easy to buy in to this messaging. It isn’t that easy, however. Data centers, comput-ers, servers, routers consume vast amounts of energy. A one-versus-the-other compari-son of print and digital from a “lifecycle” perspective would be helpful and DMA is looking at developing a Digital Green 15 soon.

There is bevy of practices that marketers may undertake to implement efficiencies and sustainability in their e-marketing and digital communication platforms, and most of these revolve around the ef-ficiency of information technology (the greening of IT) and the power sources used to run IT infrastructures and facili-ties. The Department of Energy’s and Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star program is developing a specification for efficiency in data cen-ters—much as they have done for

personal computers, imaging equipment, battery chargers and monitors. Likewise, if a charity’s IT infrastructure runs on power that originates from fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas) rather than alternate energy sources (biomass, wind, solar, hydroelec-tric, and even nuclear), then the carbon emissions associated with this power is sub-stantial. A charity might purchase carbon offsets to mitigate this impact.

Suffice is to say that e-marketing inte-gration carries its own environmental considerations. Being multichannel mar-keters, charities and nonprofits need to take these into account before making the snap decision that digital is always greener than print.

Which leads to the next practice (prac-tice 14), and that is communications with donors. All marketing claims must be honest, clear… and demonstrable. “Do-nate online… and save a tree” may not be defensible when the North American forestry industry is engaged in sustain-able forestry activity, and there are more forests today than a century ago. On the other hand, keeping all environmental marketing activity a secret can keep sup-pliers from sharing opportunities for better performance, greater efficiency and other organizational goals. Donors want to know that the charities they give to—beyond simply environmental orga-nizations—are optimizing use of donor resources by keeping marketing and com-munications very efficient so they can dedicate more dollars to the organiza-tion’s primary mission.

The FTC is about to release an update to its Green Guides to help organizations handle “green marketing” terminology with honesty and clarity, while avoiding the sins of “greenwashing.”

The last Green 15 practice supports the DMA Recycle Please campaign (practice 15). It’s a free logo that can be placed on all print material (direct mail, catalogs, newsletters, etc.) to let recipients know that the documents, once read and acted upon, can be recycled locally in most U.S. communities (the FTC’s two-thirds requirement). One major nonprofit or-ganization, Consumers Union, reported that use of the logo had no net effect,

negative or otherwise, on response—and to date, a variety of nonprofits have down-loaded the logo to use in their respective communications programs (Army and Air Force Exchange Service, American Automobile Association, March of Dimes Foundation, National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, National Geographic, National Wildlife Federation, and the Metropolitan Muse-um of Art Store). That’s great company.

During the past 20 years, the percentage of direct mail that has been collected for recycling has grown by more than 700 percent—but with a collection rate of just under 40 percent, there is opportunity for far more collection. Reminding donors to “Recycle Please” is a great way to position a nonprofit responsibly while participating and benefiting from the DMA Green 15.

Finally, taking advantage of the DMA Green 15 offers one more benefit: public recognition among peers. From DMA:

The DMA Green 15™ Fundraiser Pledge is a voluntary public recognition program that asks fundraising organizations to pledge that they are taking certain steps throughout the direct marketing process to improve their environmental footprints and ‘triple bottom-line’ (people, planet and profit) performance. DMA-member organizations who take the pledge will receive a DMA Green 15™ logo which they may display on their Web sites and print communications to convey their en-vironmental commitments to customers, clients, and other stakeholders. DMA also will acknowledge signatory organizations in the ‘Who Has Taken the Green 15™ Pledge’ section on the DMA Environ-mental Resource Center Web site, as well as spotlight these companies and organi-zations in the DMA Corporate & Social Responsibility department’s ‘Triple Bot-tom Line’ e-newsletter and other potential DMA venues.

Christian Appalachian Project and Consumers Union have the distinction of being the first two nonprofit orga-nizations to take the Green 15 pledge —congratulations!



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DMA’s Green 15 is a start. If an organiza-tion has taken the Green 15 Pledge and later implemented all the 15 practices —DMA offers up more than 100 other practices to plan, test, consider and implement in its more far-reaching Environmental Planning Tool and Optional Policy Generator. Need a resume booster? DMA offers an online, on-demand Environmentally Responsible Marketer (ERM) Certificate Program to help a fundraising professional or team earn environmental credentials. Just need some weekend or overnight reading—DMA publishes an Environmental Resource Guide for Direct Marketers as an end-to-end inventory of the direct marketing process and its environmental impact. Need to gain some recognition for an organization’s best efforts to “green” the fundraising line—then enter DMA ECHO’s Green Marketing Award competition. These efforts represent the energy of what happens when professional direct marketers, including fundraising professionals, come together to make environmental concerns part of everyday marketing decision-making, with respect to the triple bottom line (planet, people, profit). It makes sense for all charities and nonprofit organizations to bolster their own fundraising and communication support in this way.

Chet Dalzell brings 25 years of public relations management and expertise in service to leading brands in consumer, donor, patient and business-to-business markets, and in the field of direct marketing. Within the direct marketing field, Chet serves on the Direct Marketing Association Commit-tee on the Environment and Social Responsibility, where he is currently chairman of the Commit-tee’s Marketing & Communications Public Outreach Strategy Working Group (2005-present), and where he co-developed the first professional certificate program in environmentally responsible market-ing within the United States. He also serves on the United States Postal Service Greening the Mail Task Force (2007-present), and leads its Life Cycle of Mail Subcommittee. Contact Chet Dalzell at [email protected] or 917.608.2251.

Chet wishes to acknowledge the editorial contri-butions of DMA Committee on the Environment and Social Responsibility colleagues Meta Brophy, Consumers Union; Monica Garvey, Verso Paper; and Tena Perrelli, Gardener’s Supply Company.

The Federation is pleased to announce the launch of our WATCHDOG TOOLKIT.

As with any other members’ only content on our website, registration is required. Visit www.nonprofitfederation.org/ethics-policy/watchdog-resource-center/watchdog-toolkitto access the toolkit today.

WATCHDOGTOOLKIT

25

Preface It remains a given that advertising and promotional campaigns are some of the most important activities of any business. Promoting products or services is not a new phenomenon as this has been prac-ticed by businesses for centuries. The only difference between then and now is the use of technologies is in a continuous evo-lution, from print and electronic media to today’s more sophisticated Internet and mobile advertising.

While present-day corporations are busy reassessing their advertising strategies to sync with the latest technologies (i.e. mo-bile apps), an attempt has been made to explore the likely impacts of this modified approach on cause marketing, which is a form of marketing involving social and charitable causes.

“Act Local” Are the Buzzwords These Days

Gone are the days when companies were launching only one genre of product or service for all customer segments, regard-less of their location, age group, gender and social status. The marketing strate-gies were also more or less the same. The arrival of new technologies has paved the way for localized advertising that focus-es on fulfilling the individual tastes and preferences of consumers in particular locations. It is now common to see loca-tion-specific ads being run in different media with maximum success.

The rising popularity of localized ad-vertising is felt completely in the mobile advertising space and if the forecast of Gartner, the renowned information

technology research and advisory firm is any indication, the overall mobile adver-tising segment is gearing up to become a $7.4 billion market by the end of 2014.[1]

Despite many hurdles this particular segment is facing in the form of high campaign cost, lack of knowledge and experience, small number of smartphone users, and lack of standardized meth-ods of tracking and measurement, there is stiff competition among advertisers to hold a lion’s share of the mobile adver-tising space in 2010.[1] The future looks promising and location-based mobile pro-motion may add mileage to that promise.


Innovative Cause Marketing Opportunities with New TechnologiesAbel Stephen



Are online digital coupons outperforming printed ones? Since the Internet and various web technologies are at their peak in 2010, millions of web surfers are capitaliz-ing on the advantages of various online media to carry out even their day-to-day activities. The same thing is applicable to mobile phones that are now equipped with enhanced Internet capabilities to do everything from shopping, reading news-papers and accessing game scores to bill payments and bank account management. This small device allows its user control of his or her world. He or she may leave home without his or her keys, but not without his or her mobile phone.

When everything is digitized, how can we omit coupons? According to the lat-est research from Coupons.com, online digital coupons have outperformed print or newspaper coupons for the very first time.[2] The growing savings from printed coupons is a clear indication of the popu-larity of digital coupons. The savings from the printed ones attained $850 mil-lion in 2009, a 170 percent rise from the previous year.[2]

The majority of digital coupon users be-long to the high income group. More than one-third of the users completed their col-lege education.[2]

With the acceptance of digital coupons accelerating in 2010, more and more companies seek to draw the attention of customers through coupons offered via mobile and social networking websites. Mobile coupons create a win-win situation for both companies and consumers. They have a greater shelf life compared to other advertising campaigns.

The True Definition of Mobile Coupons

Mobile coupons are nothing but the digital form of sales circulars encoun-tered in the local newspaper.[3] They are a boon for countless shoppers who can save money and time with no need for scissors and rifling through the newspaper. These

coupons are also eco-friendly as there is no need to print them like Internet-based coupons.

Mobile coupons may be obtained by customers in 3 ways:

$ SMS or text message (the most commonly used form and obtained directly from the company)

$ Smartphone applications such as iPhone Apps

$ Social networking websites

The Present Scenario of iPhone Apps for Mobile Coupons

Various smartphone applications have redefined Internet surfing by offering con-sumers a simple search interface that helps locate moneysaving deals in their desig-nated area. These real-time applications render paperless saving options to mobiles.

iPhone is dominating the market share…

As per the mobile web browsing statistics of Market Share for 2010, iPhone enjoys a staggering 65 percent usage, thereby beat-ing the competition by a large margin.[6] Android with 8.42 percent usage is well below iPhone in second place. Remember, these statistics of Market Share do not in-clude the usage of iPod Touch.[6]

Another survey by TNS Compete reveals that young and wealthy persons are the major users of iPhone. According to it, more than 45 percent of all users are under the age of 40. Similarly, 54 percent earn above $75K yearly.

Therefore, the present scenario of iPhone apps is that it is advancing along with many major players vying for the top slot. The competition is heating up day by day. These apps generate coupons for prompt discounts at shops, supermarkets and restaurants. Some of the leading iPhone apps include ValPak, Coupon Sherpa, and Amazon Mobile.

The ValPak Local Coupons app offers users everything ranging from discounts on oil changes to free restaurant meals.[4] A user watches for blue coupons where he or she lives and enjoys great deals.

Coupon Sherpa is another leading iPhone app filled with plenty of coupons to suit individual tastes. With this app, users can prepare a list of their favorite stores, send coupons to their friends through e-mail and allow scanning by optical scanners.[5] Discounts and free shipping are obtain-able via Coupon Sherpa.

The Amazon Mobile app allows users to browse, compare and buy any product on Amazon. Receive all the price details and read all the customer reviews before buying the item. With this app, you are unlikely to miss out on the best deal.

The Real Question Is: Are All These Leading iPhone Apps Integrated with Cause Marketing?

Though these apps are the industry lead-ers in the mobile coupon segment in extending good features to users, they falter on the cause marketing front since all their listed discounts or coupons don’t support any kind of ministry, charitable or nonprofit cause. Businesses offering coupons through these apps have no con-nection with charities to raise funds.

As socially responsible citizens, every-one should do their part to address the grave problems gripping society. The iPhone mobile coupons are a great way to make charitable contributions while saving money on the things you purchase everyday.

Is there an iPhone App available with cause marketing integration?

There is an iPhone app that embraces the cause marketing concept on a grand scale. The “iCareNOW COUPONS” App has taken the initiative in combining technology-based advertising trends with the cause marketing concept. The website iCareNOW.tv introduced “iCareNOW

27

COUPONS,” specifically designed for release by Apple.

Even though the market is flooded with numerous iPhone apps, the unique thing about the iCareNOW App is its cause marketing integration. It is the first in-stance of a mobile-digital-cause marketing union. The app promotes socially respon-sible businesses that offer coupons and at the same time, helps nonprofits and charities. “iCareNOW COUPONS” brings for-profit and nonprofit organizations on one platform by means of collaborative marketing solutions.

What to Expect from the iCareNOW App?

The iCareNOW App boasts eye-catching features that are on par with industry leaders. Various noteworthy features of this app include:

$ An inexpensive mobile platform to deliver coupons within the business’ existing digital media, i.e. videos, images, sales copy, etc. and built-in consumer interactivity, like direct dial, email, get directions, and rate/review/comment.

$ Quick access to coupons based on geographical location and preferences

$ A zero-cost cause marketing medium for nonprofits to take part in individ-ual, commercial digital coupons.

$ A win-win situation for all three elements in this innovative market-ing model. Consumers save money through discounts, nonprofit orga-nizations raise awareness for their causes and advertisers gain access to a highly targeted market via a medium that enjoys more than a 90% read rate and up to a 60% response rate.

$ Optimum combination of social media, online and mobile for effec-tive and expandable ad execution.

$ Real-time reporting from within the app itself.

A Final Thought

By contributing to different cause market-ing initiatives, advertisers have and will continue to enhance their public image and brand identity. Purposefully de-signed apps like “iCareNOW COUPONS” bring positive attention to a business’ ef-forts in a way that is also meaningful to the consumer.

Also, easy access to apps and related ser-vices through advancing technologies will be an attractive and important consider-ation to both businesses and consumers. “iCareNOW COUPONS,” for example, can be instantly downloaded from iTunes and businesses along with charities, can easily sign up on the Facebook page to be included in Version 1.3 of the app.

Business owners who make their coupons, gift cards, offers etc. available through “iCareNOW COUPONS” will send a strong message to their targeted audi-ence that the business itself cares for its community. Consumers will love getting savings-on-the-go specific to them. It is an ideal way to make the consumer care about the establishment as much as they care about the deal—a truly remarkable achievement for any business! Everyone can now “do more… doing the everyday!”

Cause marketing is set to prosper with changes in advertising facilitated by the thoughtful use of new technologies.

References:

1Hallauer, Thomas. 2010. Why location-based ad-vertising is still handicapped. April 19. http://news.thewherebusiness.com/content/why-location-based-advertising-still-handicapped (accessed October 09, 2010).

2Knight, Kristina. 2010. Digital coupon growth outpaces newspaper. BizReport, February 15. http://www.bizreport.com/2010/02/digital_cou-pon_growth_outpaces_newspaper.html# (accessed October 09, 2010).

3Jae, Jodi. 2010. The Mobile Coupon Guide. Mint.com, August 10. http://www.mint.com/blog/trends/mobile-coupons-08102010/ (accessed October 09, 2010).

4Tuttle, Brad. 2009. 20 Money-Saving iPhone Apps. TIME, October 15. http://money.blogs.time.com/2009/10/15/20-money-saving-iphone-apps/ (accessed October 11, 2010).

5Parr, Ben. 2009. 5 of the Best iPhone Apps for In-Store Savings. Mashable/Apple. http://mashable.com/2009/05/06/iphone-shopping-savings/ (ac-cessed October 12, 2010).

6Mobile web browser usage statistics - search en-gines, devices. Web Developers Notes. http://www.webdevelopersnotes.com/articles/mobile-web-browser-usage-statistics.php (accessed October 12, 2010).

Download “iCareNOW COUPONS” from iTunes @ itunes.apple.com/us/app/icarenow-coupons/id333510535

Businesses and charities can sign up on the “iCareNOW COUPONS” Facebook page @ facebook.com/iCareNOW.tv to be included in Version 1.3 of the app

Abel Stephen is a strategy consultant for businesses & nonprofits focused on the development and implementation of innovative business, marketing and technology solutions.

For more information, contact: Paul Ercolino, [email protected] 845.875.6324 www.Mobile-iMail.com

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