vendors must acknowledge receipt of this...

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Purchasing Services (305) 348-2161

FAX (305) 348-3600 November 22, 2010

RFP 01-004

Direct Mail Program for the Office of Annual Giving

ADDENDUM #1

Re: Questions and Answers (attached) VENDORS MUST ACKNOWLEDGE RECEIPT OF THIS ADDENDUM BY SIGNING BELOW AND SUBMITING THIS EXECUTED DOCUMENT WITH YOUR RESPONSE. FAILURE TO EXECUTE AND RETURN THIS ADDENDUM FORM WILL DISQUALIFY YOUR FIRMS’ RESPONSE. This Addendum shall become part of your firms’ competitive solicitation response and the subsequent contract documents if applicable. This addendum document must be attached to your Solicitation Response. Failure to execute this document and return of same with your firms’ competitive solicitation response will be grounds for immediate disqualification. Company Name _________________________________________________________ Address _________________________________________________________________ Telephone/Fax/Email________________________________________________________ Signature ________________________________________________________________

Form#PS008 CD04/03/07

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RFP 01-004: Direct Mail Program for the Office of Annual Giving

Questions and Answers

Q1. Has this bid been submitted before and if so is there a sample available for my team to review? Answer: Do they mean direct mail piece samples or the actual RFP bid? If sample I am attaching a sample (it’s a pdf—called the president’s appeal). If you would like a copy of the previous bid, please contact the Purchasing Representative with your requests. Q2. Has there been a budget set for this project? Answer: No more than $150,000 Q3. How detailed do you want your Analytical Services as described in 1.3.3? Answer: It should be detailed enough to show benchmarking, growth &/or decrease, assumptions to be made based on our current donor file. Q4.Your marketing materials are all requested as print projects- would you consider internet marketing services in lieu, or as reinforcement of the print? Answer: We usually send out an email component as reinforcement after the mailer has been sent—usually two weeks after it hits the homes. Q5. I would like more information, if possible, about the actual components of the production mentioned in sections 1.3.2 – the lybunt/sybunt donor mailings and the quarterly (4) New Donor Welcome Packages. Specifically, I would like to know if there are any additional inserts included in those mailings other than simply standard letter package. I ask because I just received my year end appeal and noticed that there was an extra lift letter included. Answer: It depends on the piece, if the mailer is a large piece (going out to 100,000 +) we include an extra lift letter or another component or giveaway (ex. Mailing labels, or a gift premium at a certain gift amount, etc). Due to budget constraints we mostly do a standard letter & reply device. For the new welcome donor package, I created it in-house and it’s a thank you letter & we give either a panther paw sticky note pad or a I am FIU luggage tag. Q6. In section 1.3.2 Product Coordination, D: ”Analytical Reviews are of current donor and lapsed donor on the University data base for strategic planning, forecasting, analysis, and upgrade of gift potential to a major giving or planned giving.” Do you have an example of past analytical reviews similar to what you are requesting? How detailed should the reviews be? What information will you be providing in order to successfully complete the reviews? Answer: Here’s a sample of the analytics I received from the previous vendor, please note this was a sample they provided to me for the last RFP.

ENCLOSED: A Panther Gift for You!

Mark B. RosenbergPresident Florida International UniversityOffice of Annual Giving 11200 SW 8th St, MARC 555, Miami, FL 33199-0001

Cart Sort Mr. and Mrs. John D. Sample Donor Amergent 9 Centennial Drive Peabody, MA 01960 Bar Code


Cart Sort Mr. and Mrs. John D. Sample Donor Amergent 9 Centennial Drive Peabody, MA 01960 Bar Code

Mr. and Mrs. John D. Sample Donor Amergent 9 Centennial Drive Peabody, MA 01960


Mr. John D. Sample Donor Amergent 9 Centennial Drive Peabody, MA 01960 Bar Code

Dear Mr. Sample,

I am honored to be writing to you today for the first time as President of Florida International University. Given our outstanding students, alumni, faculty and staff, there is simply no place else I would rather be. Working together, I have no doubt that we will continue to enhance our reputation as a leading public research university that is both locally and globally engaged.

A critical factor of our success is the revitalization and expansion of our network of supporters. Despite the current economic uncertainty and unprecedented state budget cuts, we continue to provide premier academic research and community outreach programs thanks to the generous support of friends like you.

With a generous gift of at least $50 you can help advance FIU’s commitment to provide enriching educational experiences and support the cutting-edge research and outreach initiatives of our first-class faculty and staff.

<<And, if you make a gift of at least $50, you will also help us fulfill another goal – continued growth of our Alumni Association. That’s because any gift of $50 or more in support of the Annual Fund, will automatically <enroll> <renew> you as a member of the Alumni Association and entitle you to all its benefits. This past May, I challenged the Alumni Association to sign up 2,000 new members by June 30th – in less than two months. I was overwhelmed at the response – we signed up more than 2,700 new members! We must maintain this momentum.>>

FIU is growing in prominence, which means the value of your degree is increasing! We need your help to ensure the quality of the education we provide and the faculty we hire. As we continue to grow, the recognition we receive will further strengthen the value and impact of a degree received from Florida International University.

(over, please)

Date

Constituent ID Mr. John D. SampleDonorAmergent9 Centennial DrivePeabody, MA 01960

Dear President Rosenberg, I am proud to call Florida International University my alma mater! I want to ensure that FIU remains strong and continues to grow. Please accept my generous gift of

q $50* q $75 q $100 q $200 q Other $ (*Your gift of $50 or more will automatically enroll or renew you as a member of the Alumni Association)

11200 SW 8th St, MARC 555, Miami, FL 33199-0001 • 305-348-7514 • www.fiu.edu

XXXXXXXXXXXq My company’s matching gift form is enclosed.q Send me information on planned giving opportunities.q Send me information about the Alumni Association.q Send me information on how else I can help.

q Check enclosed (make payable to FIU Foundation)

q Please charge my: qVisa qMC qAmEx qDiscover

Card # _____________________________________Exp. Date ___________________________________Cardholder’s Signature ____________________________

To make your gift online, please visit http://giving.fiu.eduAll contributions are tax deductible. Please return this slip with your gift in the enclosed envelope or mail to: Office of Annual Giving, 11200 SW 8th St, MARC 555, Miami, FL 33199-0001.

From the Office of Mark B. RosenbergPresident

I Will Help!

Employer

Position

Business Address

Business City/State/Zip

Business Telephone

Business Fax

Business E-mail Address

Home Address

Home City/State/Zip

Home Telephone

Home Fax

Home E-mail Address

Your gift is a tax-deductible contribution to the University. After your gift has been received, we will send you an acknowledgement/receipt. Thank you again for your generosity.

Is your spouse an FIU graduate? q Yes q No (check box that applies)

Spouse Name

Spouse Employer

Spouse Position

11200 SW 8th St, MARC 555, Miami, FL 33199 • 305-348-7514 • www.fiu.edu

I’m sure you receive many requests for contributions each year. Please know that your gifts to FIU are truly appreciated and critically important to the University’s financial health. Your support will not only enable us to thrive in these difficult financial times, but will also help ensure that current and future students receive an excellent education like yours. With your generous gift today, we can remain focused on fostering academic excellence, enhancing the quality and impact of research, and engaging the community.

In addition to your support, FIU is seeking immediate funding from private, state, federal and local resources. I promise that with you by our side, we will realize the success envisioned by the FIU community at the beginning of this new era.

If you should have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to email me at [email protected]. As president of this great university, I will not rest until we fulfill our potential and become the strongest university we can be. I look forward to hearing from you. Go Panthers!

Sincerely,

Mark B. Rosenberg

P.S. I believe our alumni are eager to show their Panther Pride. To help you express that school spirit, I have enclosed some personalized FIU address labels for you. Please use your first label on the enclosed reply envelope and return it to FIU with your generous gift today. Thank you!

Please Help Us Update Your Records

Flat Size: 5 5/8” x 11”Finished Size: 5 5/8” x 3 11/16”

Mr. and Mrs. John D. SampleAmergent 9 Centennial Drive Peabody, MA 01960






























FIU has the fastest growing Alumni Association in the nation with 20,346 members. By joining your fellow alumni today, YOU can help us reach our goal of 25,000 members in 2010 and start receiving your “Panther Perks”!

Join today and help enhance the University’s local, national and international reputation for excellence.

For more information, please visit www.fiualumni.com

Top Reasons To Join The FiU alUmni assoCiaTion

• KeepconnectedwiththelatestFIUnews• Advanceyourcareerorfindjobopportunitiesthrough the Alumni Association•HelpbuildastrongerFIU•Makeadifferencebysupportingstudentscholarships•Enjoymember only perks & discounts

ALUMNI ASSOCIATION MEMBERSHIP

2003

20042005

2006

20072008 2009

2010

1,600MEMBERS

3,200MEMBERS

5,303MEMBERS

8,193MEMBERS

12,016MEMBERS

15,268MEMBERS

20,088MEMBERS

25,000MEMBERS

Goal

The FiU alumni association

FiU annual Giving

11200 SW 8th St, MARC 555, Miami, FL 33199-0001 • 305-348-7514 • www.fiu.edu

Support from alumni, faculty, staff, students, parents and friends helps advance our educational mission. Florida International University’s Annual Fund supports all academic schools, departments, libraries and programs.

To make your gift online, please visit http://giving.fiu.edu

Why Your Gifts to FiU’s annual Fund are important

•FloridaInternationalUniversitystudentsdeservethebest available education.

•Tuitionincreasesshouldnotbetheonlywayfortheuniversity to meet rising costs.

•FloridaInternationalUniversityhasaremarkablenumberof departments and programs ranked nationally, and your gift can help maintain their reputation.

•Yourgiftcanhelpmakeagreatuniversityevenbetter.

“All great universities are built on the foundation of alumni support. Your gifts are a critical investment in FIU’s future and just one of the many ways for you to stay connected to your alma mater.”

Your Stamp

Supports Education

Florida International University Office of Annual Giving 11200 SW 8th St, MARC 555 Miami, FL 33199-0001

Name _______________________________________________

Address ______________________________________________

City _______________________ State _____ Zip ____________

TThhee BBeesstt ooff

VViittaall SSiiggnnss AAnnaallyyssiiss™™

A sampling of

reports, findings, and recommendations from our comprehensive donor file analysis process

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Vital Signs Analysis™ Overview The Vital Signs Analysis™ is an in-depth donor behavior study that tells you where your development program is, how it got there, and where it is heading. With our analysis, organizations can choose to put themselves in a more favorable position to realize greater gains, and invest in areas that have the greatest impact on long-term financial well-being. Vital Signs Analysis™ is a long-term donor trends and giving behavior analysis. It is a proprietary approach, arising from Amergent’s in-depth study of donor behavior based on data in your donor database. By compiling, organizing and interpreting years of giving data, the experienced not-for-profit strategists at Amergent provide you with a valuable set of ideas to increase the return you can expect from your fundraising programs. The analysis is a package of many different reports that have been created to help observe how all the different file segments impact the total results within any given year. Every client program is different. These differences are apparent when put under the Vital Signs microscope. Long-term financial success is directly related to renewing or retaining annual support year after year, so a majority of the reports are designed to show the performance of donors over successive annual campaigns. Likewise, donors who fail to renew are measured and the value of their ‘lost’ support is provided. Fund raising growth/success can be defined as: getting more people to give more gifts worth more money. Our reports let you look at these issues in a variety of ways. They indicate, by the donors’ performance, whether your previous approaches were successful and whether there are opportunities for doing things better in the future to raise donor performance in each category. Amergent’s Vital Signs Analysis™ report will inform you of strategic opportunities and raise your awareness of strengths and weaknesses. Amergent’s strategists help you distill the findings into action items and suggestions for consideration. Recommendations include ideas which will do the greatest good near-term, and which should be implemented in the future.

Best of Vital Signs This sample report book represents some of the standard reports included in a Vital Signs Analysis™. In addition to the report data, these samples share how the information was interpreted, as well as the subsequent recommendations made for each client in an effort to improve their donor performance. To have Amergent perform a Vital Signs Analysis™ for your organization, just call Jack Doyle at 1.800.370.7500.

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Membership Analysis The organization represented by the below data used a speaking event, rather than mail, to recruit new members, and then attempted to retain them via a direct response renewal cycle. Amergent’s analysis uncovered the fact that many new members were never renewed. The recommended remedy to improve the fast attrition rate, was to implement a year-round communication plan with an early renewal cycle. The goal of this strategy was to raise the level of membership retention to greater than 30% for new-to-file members. The analysis shown below also indicated that the organization was doing a good job of retaining members once they were successfully renewed. The best results are achieved when members can be retained for three or more years. Therefore Amergent suggested a variety of renewal strategies be applied to sustain membership. In addition, as an incentive for remaining a member, we recommended that multiple year membership payment options be introduced.

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Membership Analysis

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Donor File Retention by Annual Number of Gifts Overall retention was at 50%; Donors with a history of two or more gifts had a significantly higher retention rate of about 70-95% as shown below.

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This report indicates a lot of donors gave only one gift but it was the donors of two gifts or more who renewed year after year.

From this information, Amergent’s strategy moving forward was: • To look for opportunities to grow and cultivate donors in order to maximize donor

retention • Limit attrition; Increase giving frequency where possible In order to reach the goals set in the long-term strategy, Amergent created additional giving opportunities including an Urgent Appeal, an additional Summer Appeal and a win back program to renew lapsed donors. These programs combined had an average gift of $47 and resulted in approximately $300,000 in revenue.

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New Donor Cultivation The idea of aggressively re-soliciting recent new donors is the opposite of what you feel is right for dealing with new friends. The fact is, the more effective you are at getting a donor to make another gift early on in the new relationship with you, the greater your chances of having a long-term relationship. There are many ways to create a suitable strategy to achieve this. This report allows you to see what you have achieved in the past and what room for improvement exists.

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Upgrade/Downgrade Report This report allows us to spot trends among carefully defined annual giving segments, such as major gift club donors. We're able to see how much upgrading occurred, how many maintained their giving and how many renewed at a lower level.

When the client's staff was asked for comments, it was discovered they routinely gathered up all the names for $500+ donors who had given recently and went and pulled the current monthly mail piece. This "back-room" practice was intended to “protect” higher dollar donors from the regular appeals – because the organization thought these donors would no longer care as much about these appeals. However, many of these higher dollar donors have been loyal to the regular appeals, and removing them from these efforts was actually taking away important giving opportunities from their most generous donors. The staff didn't realize they had started a process that ensured the best donors would get fewer and fewer opportunities to give each year, and thus, provide less support.

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Early Warning on Renewing Donors – at Mid-Year Amergent conducts a half-year and full-year Vital Signs AnalysisTM for this client. As shown in the sample chart below, the mid-year analysis found that they were experiencing a significant number of unrenewed donors, the highest occurring in the 1-gift category.

Renewal Rates & Donor Counts

10,268

3,7531,585 682 332 135 71 155

53%

71%

83%

90% 91%89% 89%

91%

49%

67%

83%

88%91% 89%

95% 95%

0

5,000

10,000

15,000

20,000

25,000

1 Gift 2 Gifts 3 Gifts 4 Gifts 5 Gifts 6 Gifts 7 Gifts 8+ Gifts0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

# Renewed # Lapsed FY'01 % Resp 60% FY'02 % Resp 57%

In order to renew as many “lapsed” donors as possible prior to the end of FY ‘02, Amergent recommended that they develop a special appeal targeted at unrenewed donors. This appeal was meant to inform donors that they had not given, and that the organization would appreciate hearing from them before the end of the fiscal year. The goal of the personalized communication was to renew approximately 5,400 “lapsed” donors before the end of FY ’02. As a result of this strategy, the client renewed approximately 5,450 donors, achieving their goal. The average annual gift was $57.16.

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Mid-Year Vital Signs™ Helps Recover Donors Seven months into the 2002 fiscal year, Amergent’s Vital Signs AnalysisTM, showed that a total of 18,216 donors who had given in the first months of FY01 had not contributed a gift so far in FY02. To win back the support of these donors before the end of the 2002 fiscal year, Amergent recommended personal phone calls to the highest-level donors and a special high touch winback mailing to the remaining donors. These techniques, along with other winback efforts and versioning in regular renewal appeals, brought back 2,337 donors and $403,126 in revenue before the end of the fiscal year.

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Share of Income from Key Donor Categories The first Vital Signs AnalysisTM performed for this client in FY ’01 showed that, while income increased in FY’01, it was as a result of renewing donors increasing their gift amount. Newly acquired and recaptured donor income decreased. In order to increase the rate of donor recapture, Amergent recommended that the client aggressively win-back the support of past donors by implementing at least two highly targeted programs over the course of FY ’02. As represented in the below charts, the two win-back programs directly resulted in the recapture of nearly 300 extra lapsed donors, an increase in recaptured rate of more than 130% from FY ’01. The recaptured donor dollars amounted to more than a 100% increase over FY ‘01 in revenue generated within the 1-year lapsed category.

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Leveraging Data for New Income Opportunities A recent Vital Signs AnalysisTM, uncovered the fact that the majority of a clients’ donors were contributing the same amount as their highest previous contribution (hpc) over a two-year period. To learn what this meant for the clients’ income prospects, we pursued additional analysis “below the surface.” We produced the report below in order to see how donors were distributed across annual giving dollar levels – as well as gift frequencies – for the same group of supporters.

As the report shows, this client has 68,000 donors who made at least 3 gifts during the current year. But, there were only 16,000 donors who have given at least $250+ during the same year. This indicated to us that the organization has a loyal and active donor base, but there seemed to be a real opportunity to challenge many of them to increase their annual gift amounts. In short, they were strong candidates for a special upgrading appeal. Amergent recommended a three-step campaign approach in order to upgrade donors. The campaign consisted of a series of highly personalized contacts designed to deepen the relationship with their most loyal friends, and upgrade long-standing givers. The effort resulted in 20% of donors increasing their highest previous gift, which yielded close to $4.5 million in revenue.

Category Description FY'01Donors Av Gift Revenue Frequency

Highest Prior Contribution$1000 plus 4,579 $1,228.09 $12,349,667 2.20

$500 - $999.99 5,083 $379.54 $4,106,957 2.13$250 - $499.99 6,404 $215.80 $3,231,977 2.34$100 - $249.99 47,139 $96.66 $10,339,628 2.27

$50 -$99.99 49,565 $43.65 $4,691,732 2.17$25 - $49.99 112,272 $24.46 $5,049,417 1.84$15 - $24.99 55,131 $15.74 $1,618,650 1.87

$0.01 - $14.99 69,577 $7.50 $900,030 1.72349,750 $62.22 $42,288,058 1.94

Giving Frequency8+ Gifts 8,733 $48.54 $4,529,725 10.69

7 Gifts 2,867 $53.89 $1,081,614 7.006 Gifts 4,671 $51.10 $1,432,031 6.005 Gifts 7,801 $55.23 $2,154,279 5.004 Gifts 14,503 $65.56 $3,803,547 4.003 Gifts 29,461 $62.87 $5,556,452 3.002 Gifts 71,083 $67.61 $9,611,575 2.001 Gift 210,631 $67.03 $14,118,835 1.00

349,750 $62.22 $42,288,058 1.94

They could benefit from more $250+ donors

Many donors are willing to respond more than once/yearat modest levels

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List LifeCycle Analysis™ Evaluates New Donor Sources The following report indexes the individual list performance results against the overall averages for each year of new donor prospecting. It allows the client to see which list sources produced new donors who became valuable sources of subsequent income, due to giving patterns that included additional, quality gifts on a regular basis. The sample provided is condensed for presentation purposes. The actual report gives a full profit and loss accounting for the acquisition results, as well as the 1-24 month renewal mailing results, and the total profit and loss for the first two years of giving. In this sample, we have hidden costs and present only the income attributed to these 100,000 new donors. The overall population of 100,000 new donors acquired in this year had an average first gift of $16.85. Within the first 12 months, 40%, or 39,863, of them had made additional gifts. Within 24 months 50%, or 50,743, of them had responded to renewal mailing efforts. The responses after the initial prospecting effort resulted in 154,461 gifts totaling $3.5 million in additional income. This is equivalent to almost $52 for every new donor acquired in the originally prospecting appeal (2 years earlier). Amergent’s analysis identified for the client, the lists that produced more than the $52 per name overall average. Additionally, the analysis showed which twelve lists fell short of the average and were not producing quality names for the renewal program. Based on this analysis, Amergent recommended that the client reallocate their spending on the six poorest lists, based on ROI, to purchasing and mailing more names from the top ten lists. Without incurring any additional spending, the client will realize greater short and long-term income results and a more effective return on investment.

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List LifeCycle Analysis™ Evaluates New Donor Sources

$0 $10 $20 $30 $40 $50 $60 $70 $80 $90 $100

BOARD ROOM REPORTS

HANDGUN CONTROL

FORBES

PROJECT HOPE

THE NATION

NEW YORKER

UNICEF

SAVE THE CHILDREN

HABITAT

SPECIAL OLYMPICS

St. Joseph's Indian School

INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN

POVERTY LAW

ACLU

UTNE READER

MONEY

Overall Average LDV

CYSTIC FIBROSIS

DAV

COVENANT HOUSE

NFCR

AMERICAN HEART

MADD

MARCH OF DIMES

VETERANS OF THE FOREIGN WARS

EASTER SEALS

PVA

CHRISTIAN APPALACHIAN

AICR

24-month Value of a Donor (by LifeCycle)

15 lists did better than the average

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Long-Term Donor Value of New Donors When Amergent began working with this organization, our first Vital Signs AnalysisTM showed that the organization had been making a significant investment in acquiring new donors. Although the number of new donors was increasing, we found that only a small percentage of those newly acquired donors gave another gift in subsequent years. The below chart shows results from our first long-term donor performance analysis for new donors acquired in FY ’94.

Based on the low new donor retention numbers, Amergent recommended implementing a new donor Welcome strategy that acknowledged and thanked donors for their gift while also Welcoming these donors into the family.

4 years

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It is important to compare long-term value of new donors acquired in each year. The chart below includes two consecutive years of new donor activity (1999 and 2000) – and details their subsequent performance through the latest year of data. The comparison reveals a consistent pattern for this client, beginning with retention of 1/3 of their new donors in the second year – and trending to about 20% of them still giving through the fourth year on the file. The comparison of “long-term donor value” shows that 2000 new donors started at slightly lower initial value vs. 1999 new donors ($15.55 vs. $15.77) – but better metrics in years 2-4 helped boost their 4-year cumulative value to slightly higher than the 1999 new donors. For this client, the clearest opportunity was to increase second year retention of new donors to over 40% - for all years. We recommended a more aggressive mail plan for first year donors, including targeted mailings designed to get an early second gift (within the first 3 months). Donors who were still active through four years were generating about 1.7 gifts per year, which is okay. However, it seemed that there was an opportunity to drive a higher average gift from these long-term supporters. We used this report to initiate a closer look at which donors were ready to make a larger gift commitment to this organization. – and we recommended more emphasis on special upgrading opportunities for those who have given most frequently during this timeframe.

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GAP Analysis This analysis tool helps us indicate whether the client is investing enough of their budget into acquiring enough new donors and new dollars to replace what they are losing from annual attrition. It allows organizations to plan better and to manage the level of investment necessary in two areas, 1. The retention and renewal of active donors 2. The addition of enough quality new donors to close the 'gap' in future years

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In the last 2 years, the number of new donors acquired exceeded the

number of donors who lapsed

In the last 4 years, the level of support lost from lapsing donors has exceeded the level of new

support - however, the 'gap' is closing in recent years

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Understanding Lapsed Donors In our Vital Signs Analysis™ process, we always seek to understand how lost donors and lost income are impacting your program each year. Our annual “gap” analysis compares the new donors/income generated each year, to the donors and income that were “lost” each year. The gap analysis let’s you know if you are acquiring enough new donors and income to offset your annual losses from donor attrition. Another way we look at lapsed donors is by segmenting them into the same donor categories we use to analyze renewing donor behavior (i.e.: New, 2nd Year New, Longstanding, Recaptured). This allows us to take a critical look at where the lapsed donors and lost income are coming from each year – as well as which donor categories reveal the best opportunities for improvement. The chart below shows how lapsed donors and income are distributed among the various donor categories from the prior year. In this example, both the longstanding donors and the New Donors from last year represent about 1/3 of the total lost donors (longstanding = 32% of total, and New Donors = 29% of total).

Upon first seeing these numbers, the client believed their best opportunity for improvement was to invest equally in both the Longstanding and New Donors – since they represented nearly equal shares of total lost donors. But this would have been a flawed approach, because these two categories actually had dramatically different performance metrics! Whereas the prior year’s New Donors lapsed at a rate of over 60% (60 out of 100 New Donors did not renew), the Longstanding Donors lost only 18% from the prior year (only 18 out of 100 did not renew). Given the excellent retention rate for Longstanding Donors (82% is outstanding!), this client was not likely to gain very much by an increased investment in this category. But, because of their high value to this client, these lapsed Longstanding donors were their highest priority for recapture.

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Our advice was to concentrate their available resources on the New Donor category – to improve their retention in the second year. Based on this client’s other metrics, we suggested that they target New Donor retention at 50% or better – 10% higher than the current year. This is a much more realistic opportunity for improvement, and a better use of the client’s resources over time.

Looking at the same client data, we used our Vital Signs process to look at lapsed donors according to their gift frequency from the prior year. As the chart below indicates, over 50% of last year’s donors were 1-gift givers (18,634 out of 36,882 total). As a result of losing 49% of these donors this year, it turns out that lost 1-gift donors account for over 75% of all lost donors this year.

The clear goal flowing from this example is to get more donors to give more than one gift. And, since we know this client has a high concentration of 1-gift givers in their New Donor category, they need to concentrate on getting New Donors to make a second gift as early as possible after joining the program.

To do this, we recommended a special New Donor Welcome Series with three contacts within the first 100 days. We also suggested they look more closely at their acquisition lists, to determine whether certain lists were failing to produce quality long-term donors. Our List LifeCycle™ Analysis will help this client weed out their weakest lists.

Finally, for perennial 1-gift donors (not New Donors last year), we recommended a special “extra gift” appeal focused specifically on getting these donors to make even one extra gift this year. We know from the client’s data that an extra gift will improve retention and stabilize the donor and income losses each year.

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Lifetime Giving Analysis Ranks & Targets Lapsed Donors One of the most important challenges for development programs is deciding which lapsed donors are most worthy of special treatment and investment in your donor recapture efforts. Clients want to know which lapsed donors are more valuable to them, so they can direct their resources to reactivating those who will be most likely to return – and will deliver more value once they have returned. To answer this challenge, Amergent has developed a series of reports that look only at lapsed donors with a detailed examination of their LIFETIME giving patterns before they stopped giving. This approach transforms one large group of lapsed donors into several groups of donors whose LIFETIME giving reveals dramatic differences in their “loyalty” to the mission. This is where you gain a clear picture of who really are the best targets for donor recapture efforts – and it lets you direct your investment where it will have the greatest impact overall. The example below is for a client that had 137,000 total lapsed donors. 50,000 of them gave only 1 gift ever to this organization before they stopped giving this year. 37,000 gave 2-4 gifts total before lapsing. And, 50,000 gave at least five-or-more gifts to this program before they stopped giving this year. Because of their proven “loyalty” to this client, they are the best group to prioritize for special win-back efforts. The chart below shows how the 5+ gift donors represent only 37% of all lapsed donors, but account for over 80% of all lifetime gifts and lifetime income from the total lapsed donor group. We used this data to help the client rank and target these donors for a special, high-priority win-back program. Knowing exactly who they should focus on first and most aggressively allowed them to recapture more of the donors they really want back – and it ensured they were investing their resources in the best possible way.

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Uncovering More Donors Who are Ready to Upgrade In this example, a regional organization was looking for more strong prospects for a very successful upgrade campaign. They had already identified their top 1,500 prospects from recent capital campaign activities and existing “major” donor rosters, but they needed to find many more friends who could be asked to do more. Amergent performed a lifetime giving analysis on their 0-24 month donor segments, to help determine whether there was a group of very loyal donors who as yet had not been considered for this campaign. We segmented their entire 0-24 donor population – according to how many LIFETIME gifts they had made. Since we know that lifetime number of gifts directly correlates to upgrading success in these campaigns, we focused most intently on donors who had made at least 5+ LIFETIME gifts to this organization. As the following chart shows, our drill down analysis uncovered 5,800 donors who had proven their loyalty – and giving capacity – over their lifetime of support for this client. As a group, they have generated over 90,000 gifts – and almost $6 million. Knowing that these donors have averaged 16 gifts per donor, and $1,000 each over their lifetime of giving, gave this client the confidence they needed to approach them for a higher annual commitment. As a result of this analysis, the client was able to target a lot more donors with their excellent upgrade proposition – donors they wouldn’t have had confidence to include without this information. I this case, a better understanding of lifetime giving patterns opened the door for additional cultivation opportunities and significant net income growth.

These 5,800 have given 90,000 gifts

They’ve given over $5.8 Million!

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Analysis of Suggested Gift Amounts Our List LifeCycle Analysis™ process allows us to determine, for each list source used in prospect mailings, what lists are capable of producing in terms of new donor gift sizes. When we know this, we can tailor the prospecting ask amounts to match each list’s capacity to produce responders at those levels. Use this information to verify when the standard gift arrays are appropriate, when suggested gift amounts need to be lowered to maximize that list's response rate, and when a higher level of gifts asks are possible without hurting response. We always test lists prior to a full roll-out. The following pages include some key examples of how different lists performed in both the initial acquisition effort – and also in terms of their subsequent giving they generated (over the 24 months after they were acquired). These examples show how ask strategies can be adjusted to better cultivate the best yield of quality donors from each individual list source. Different lists often require different ask amounts to achieve this goal. Here are the key results for the three list sources we have compared. Note the difference between them for initial average gift and 24-month income/name required.

The following charts provide more details for each list, segmented by gift size for all new donors.

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Autom Buyers were able to produce a lot of new donors at an initial gift size of $25 or more – 684 of its 1,046 respondents (65%). Their high overall average gift was maintained through the first two years of the renewal program. As a result, total giving over that period exceeded $200,000 and was equivalent to over $200 for every name acquired. It was determined this list should ask for gifts starting at $25 and have suggested amounts greater than $100. It has the capacity to produce large donors. 90% of all its income came from donors of $25 or more initial gifts.

Average Gift Comparison

1,046

Gift Size 1st GiftRenewal

GiftOverall

Average Gift#Lifetime

Gifts

< $5 $2.00 $4.75 $2.45 62

$5 - $9.99 $5.03 $9.69 $6.20 164

$10 - $14.99 $10.10 $39.25 $26.85 421

$15 - $19.99 $15.00 $18.90 $12.35 199

$20 - $24.99 $20.01 $24.97 $17.73 245

$25 - $49.99 $26.35 $32.40 $23.14 1,336

$50 - $99.99 $52.62 $119.42 $72.71 317

$100 + $385.73 $245.26 $180.49 674

Overall total $85.47 $82.16 $83.17 3,418$217,489 3.324-Month Giving

# of New DonorsAutom Buyers Catholic

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The Catholic Digest list produces donors across more modest gift levels. The use of this list generated 3,064 new donors of $25 or more (58% of the total). Over three years, 17,000 gifts are attributed to the 5,000 new donors acquired from this list. Amounts below $25 and above $100 can be counted on here and the ask array can be expanded.

A verage G ift C om parison

5,321

G ift S ize 1st G iftR enew al

G iftO verall

A verage G ift#L ifetim e

G ifts

< $5 $1.96 $3.55 $2.34 368

$5 - $9.99 $5.09 $8.19 $5.13 1,171

$10 - $14.99 $10.02 $14.53 $9.82 2,601

$15 - $19.99 $15.01 $16.99 $11.64 1,491

$20 - $24.99 $20.02 $20.84 $14.32 1,221

$25 - $49.99 $25.81 $37.89 $26.87 7,316

$50 - $99.99 $50.85 $66.69 $45.20 1,635

$100 + $176.83 $133.89 $100.74 1,648

O verall total $33.74 $41.53 $39.15 17,451$501,125 3.324-M onth G iving

# of N ew D onorsC atholic D igest

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Despite an ask array that begins with $25 – The Asian Relief list produced 250 new donors (72% of the respondents) at an amount below $25. This list needs to have lower ask amounts. Almost no new donors were acquired (or renewed) at gift levels above $25.

Why use this list? It has produced $40(+) per name acquired over 24 months. Chances are, the expenses for acquiring and renewing these donors were less than that. It is not a lot of margin, but it is net income. In addition, with lower gift asks on the reply slip encouraging response at $10, $15, $20 and $25 levels, you’ll see a greater number of new donors.

A vera ge G ift C o m p a riso n

34 5

G ift S ize 1 st G iftR en ew al

G iftO v era ll

A v erage G ift# L ifetim e

G ifts

< $5 $2 .33 $3 .78 $1 .62 21

$5 - $9 .99 $5 .25 $6 .39 $4 .01 196

$10 - $14 .99 $10 .04 $11 .34 $7 .56 291

$15 - $19 .99 $15 .01 $15 .80 $10 .19 155

$20 - $24 .99 $20 .00 $18 .94 $13 .59 46

$25 - $49 .99 $25 .57 $25 .45 $18 .24 307

$50 - $99 .99 $50 .00 $51 .88 $34 .58 12

$100 + $ 100 .00 $23 .48 $20 .00 27

O v era ll to ta l $1 5 .35 $ 16 .5 9 $ 16 .1 8 1 ,0 55$1 4 ,40 3 3 .1

# o f N ew D on ors

2 4 -M o n th G iv in g

A sian R elief

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