year end fundraising
DESCRIPTION
Learn how better to use Engaging Networks' software to make the most of your year end fundraising.TRANSCRIPT
Year-End Fundraising
September 23, 2014Engaging Networks Community Conference
Melissa TinklepaughOnline Fundraising Associate, The Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Katy Jordan Senior Director, Digital Media, CDR Fundraising Group
WHY YEAR-END MATTERS
• Online fundraising grew 13.5% in 2013 over 2012
• 1/3 of charitable giving happens in the last 3 months of the year
• Average gifts tend to behigher during year end
Source: Blackbaud 2013 Charitable Giving Report
#GivingTuesday
• 2013 #GivingTuesday Revenue was up 90% from 2012
• Average gifts over $100.00• Excellent Social Media Engagement• Prepare for
December 2, 2014
Online gifts per month from July 2013 through June 2014
SUPERCHARGE YOUR YEAR-END FUNDRAISING
Free & Low Cost Initiatives• Participate in #GivingTuesday• Search Engine Marketing
– Leverage Google Grant– Supplement with Paid Search on branded terms
• Social Media campaigns– Organic and promoted posts– Ask supporters to share!
• Homepage real estate– Lightbox, hotbar, carousel
• Remarket to site visitors
Cross-Channel MarketingWho, Where, When, How?
• Integrate your message, call-to-action, creative across channels
• Reinforces your brand and boosts credibility
• Coordinate among departments internally
– Development, Marketing, IT, PR, Social Media
CLO websites Facebook page Email solicitations
Donation page
Cornell Lab homepages
Cornell Lab Year-end 2013
8 solicitation emails
2 cultivation emails
400k email recipients
3,996 donors
$250k match
Tax-deductible message
Facebook cover image
3 Facebook posts
CLO homepage carousel
CLO website ads and pop-up
Paid search ads
Cornell Lab Year-end 2013: Referral Sources
Case Study –Shriners Hospitals for Children
• Use all digital channels to reinforce call to action
– Website, email, social media, search, display
• Used various images of children to reinforce need
• Coordination of fundraising, PR, and IT teams
KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE
Who – Segment your Audience
• Right message, right audience, right time
• Segment donors vs non-donors
• Acknowledge supporters
• Suppress campaign responders
• Personalize content and ask amounts
Select who you want to email
Narrow the audience
Select who you want to exclude
Querying email segments
CampaignsBroadcastsDonationTracking ValuesQuestionsForm DataProfilesPeer to Peer
Segments to define and target:
Transactional data• Recency, frequency, monetary amount• Donors who gave on a specific page
Behavioral• Donors who open most of your emails• Referral channels converting most donors
Custom DataSet up as untagged field or question for querying purposes
Personalize your year-end emails• Use a salutation• Use the donor’s name in the email message• Tailor your message per segment• Streamline this by using Supporter Profiles and Conditional
Copyblocks• Create custom fields to store data• Custom ask amounts
Tip: Use the salutation tool to insert custom data into an email message.
Where & When –meet supporters where they are
• Optimize for screen size
• Mobile email reading and payment transactions are quickly eclipsing PC
• Make it easy and simplefor donors to give on anydevice at any time!
Timing – In December, all bets are off
Source: NTEN 2014 eNonprofit Benchmark Study
Internal Coordination• Create department share year-end calendar
• Give your colleagues notice
• Ensure creative is cohesive across channels and departments
– Does marketing match fundraising?
December e-Campaign ScheduleCampaign Email Type Social Media Website Display
Giving Tuesday Appeal x x
Holiday Appeal #1 Appeal x x
Happy Holidays Cultivation Cultivation
Year End Appeal #1 Appeal x x x
Year End Appeal #2 Appeal x x x
Year End #3 Appeal- Last Chance Appeal x x x
Acknowledgement Acknowledgement
TEST & OPTIMIZE
Testing – Learn from the past• Why do we test?
• What worked? Roll out with winners from earlier in the season
• Room for Improvement? Test during year end, roll out with winnerswhen volume allows
Test and optimize your emails
Tests: short vs. long subject lines, nonprofit’s name in subject line, effectiveness of a call to action button, button colors, images, messaging, keywords that trigger response, day of the week or time of day to send email
Isolate elements you’re testing for clear resultsCreate tests you can replicate in the future
Engaging Networks makes it easy to test various elements in an email. You can test more than two emails, too.
Case Study – Ask PositioningWounded Warrior Project – donation form
WWP tested “Your Best Gift” against “Other” on their donation form in an effort to increase the average gift in that field.
Case Study – Ask Positioning“Other Amount”
“Your Best Gift”
The “your best gift” ask resulted in a $12 improvement in average gift!
Total Gifts Average Gift Total Revenue
376 $192.58 $72,603.88
Total Gifts Average Gift Total Revenue
372 $204.54 $76,087.42
Mobile Metrics
• Nearly 41% of Emails are read on mobile devices
• Donation rates nearly double on responsive landing pages
• 30% of Amazon customers purchase exclusivelythrough mobile devices
Source: Exact Target, Donor Drive, Amazon
Case Study – Mobile donation formWounded Warrior Project (WWP) did not have a mobile responsive homepage donation form.
Upon rolling out a mobile form, the form conversion rate increased by 38%, resulting in an additional $253,000 in revenue over one month.
Test and optimize your donation pages
Test form field label placement
Test constituents’ responsiveness to dynamic thermometers and other widgets
Set up form field validators to immediately notify donors when they skip a mandatory form field and to require data to follow specific formats
Set up suggested donation amounts for supporter profilesA/B test donation pages through email solicitations
SET UP FOR SUCCESS
Foolproof attribution
• Unique landing pages
• Source coding
• Tracking Parameters
• Google Analytics
Tracking parameters
Track distinct audience segments to measure responsiveness and average gifts
Track channel performanceMeasure number of donors, sum of gifts, and average gifts per channel
Review your dataPivot tables can help make sense of your data and identify trends.
Document & Archive
• Make sure to document your success (and failures) for future plans
• Archive creative assets
• Summarize performance metrics for improved performance and test design
• Plan ahead for 2015!
In Summary
• Free & Low cost options
• Multi-channel messaging
– Right message, right audience, right time
– Who, where, when, how?
• Test & Optimize
• Setup for Success
• Archive & Plan Ahead
Questions?
Thank you!
Melissa Tinklepaugh, Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Katy Jordan, CDR Fundraising Group