I recently had the pleasure of hearing the success Amnesty Denmark has had since implementing a more integrated strategy to their fundraising program. I spoke with their Global Fundraising Innovations Advisor, Christoffer Holm, to learn why they’ve started measuring their Return on Involvement.
To many charities, integration is about ensuring different channels work together seamlessly -- online, mail, telephone, face-to-face, mobile, etc. But the nature of Amnesty Denmark’s work means that integration must go beyond fundraising. As an activist organization, their supporters’ non-financial involvement is just as important. They rely on petitions and letter writing campaigns to make social change and put pressure on governments. But their activism and fundraising departments had been working as just that -- two separate departments.
“The first big hurdle was convincing myself that we could ask supporters for things other than financial help without cannibalizing our fundraising.”
Christoffer’s words echo a common sentiment in our field. Many charity staff members express fear when it comes to making asks that involve more than money. We assume that if given a choice, people will almost always select only the "free" option, as if we’re giving them an "out".
But like many fundraising practices, our intuition is often the opposite of what the actual results show to be true. And Amnesty Denmark is a perfect example. The more they involved supporters across channels-- fundraising, communications, activism, and campaigning -- the higher their overall returns in all departments.
Donors want to be involved with the causes they care about. They don’t want to feel like ATMs. So let them show their passion by giving them a chance to be a part of your team. You’ll be rewarded with better retention from more committed donors, and most likely a higher lifetime value in the long run.
There are numerous charities like Amnesty Denmark whose mission involves spreading awareness and influencing social change too. Measuring the Return on Involvement could very well become an important tool for the future of fundraising. And as we continue to struggle with the declining power of cold acquisition, we can also look to our engaged, non-financial supporters as the warm leads in the new integrated fundraising world.
Share, Like and Post | | Article Link | CommentIntegrated Marketing Awards: Show Us Your Stuff!
Do you have a case study of integrated marketing success that you’d like to share with the industry? Now is your chance to show us your stuff!
In the spirit of the IMAB’s mission to share best practices for integrated marketing in the nonprofit industry, we’ve established an annual contest for case studies. The IMAB recognizes and showcases innovative and demonstrated success in three established pillars of integrated marketing: the donor, the organization and the practice.
- The Donor: Demonstrate how your organization’s integrated marketing campaign or program had an impact on donor satisfaction and the donor experience.
- The Organization: Explain how an effort across your entire organization demonstrates alignment of strategy, structure, culture and skills to showcase integrated marketing efforts.
- The Practice: Include a real-world case study that highlights best practices in the field of integrated marketing.
The call for entries is now open.
Nominate a nonprofit organization with exemplary success in integrated marketing. Three winners will be announced at the 7th Annual Bridge to Integrated Marketing & Fundraising Conference, August 7–9, 2012, in Washington, D.C.
Be sure to nominate an organization for the 2012 IMAB Integrated Marketing Awards soon! Deadline for entries: Saturday, June 30, 2012. The IMAB will review each nomination, select winners and present the awards.
Share, Like and Post | | Article Link | CommentIntegrated Campaign Equals Fundraising Results
The value of case studies is heighted in the charitable sector, where budgets are limited. That’s why the IMAB has identified one pillar of integrated marketing as “The Practice” -- helping organizations look at how other organizations are putting integrated marketing into practice to help better prepare themselves for their own integrated marketing efforts. Here’s one example of integrated marketing in the real world:
The Organization 
Established in 1988, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (Sea Shepherd) exists to end the destruction of habitat and slaughter of wildlife in the world’s oceans. Sea Shepherd’s heroic direct action teams investigate, document, and interfere with the slaughter of whales and other marine life.
Harvey McKinnon Associates (HMA) worked with Sea Shepherd to develop their donor direct mail program, and recruited hjc to help build a personal fundraising campaign around the Sea Shepherd’s Be a Whale Warrior campaign. The campaign builds on the popularity of the "Whale Wars" reality TV show (which follows Sea Shepherd ships as they patrol the seas protecting whales from hunters).
The Challenge
Encourage donors to do their own fundraising for the Be a Whale Warrior campaign, using Sea Shepherd’s existing online platform for personal fundraising pages.
The Solution
Together the HMA/hjc team came up with the “Be a Whale Warrior” concept, and pulled together an integrated campaign that included multiple communication channels. We set up and configured Sea Shepherd’s online platform to support the multi-channel approach, and then created a schedule and framework for multiple communications with donors. We coordinated thank-you and “encouragement” calls with a leading telemarketing provider, and set up and sent a series of donor emails.
The Results
The results of this integrated campaign speak for themselves: Sea Shepherd raised $30,000 in net income, with over 3,000 personal fundraising pages created by supporters. Many donations were from first-time donors, a great step in increasing their donor file.
Share, Like and Post | | Article Link | CommentAn Example of Truly Integrated Fundraising
Harvey McKinnon Associates and hjc's work with TVO (Ontario’s public television station) provides a perfect example of truly integrated fundraising that just might inspire you. Beloved by its loyal viewers, TVO is public television in Ontario -- and has been for 40 years. TVO challenges, informs, educates and entertains -- believing that television can be a powerful force for good.
The Challenge
When we began work with TVO, they had suffered a loss of donors since 2005, and a significant drop in the Lifetime Value of their remaining donors. Second gift conversion rates had plummeted, and renewal rates were down. Stewardship was faltering, and donors were less and less engaged with the organization.
The Solution
- Through a combination of mail, online and telephone work, the HMA/hjc “Team TVO” led by Chris Carter reignited donor interest. We also have deeply integrated social media into the mix.
- We launched a new donor cultivation tool, the Impact Report, which keeps supporters up to date on how their donations have been spent, and makes them feel part of a wider TVO Community.
- We launched a Symbolic Giving program online and through mail and DRTV spots. We combined the mail and telephone to focus on donor cultivation, bringing in an industry-leading call centre to handle inbound fundraising calls outside of regular hours. We also developed a multi-channel (mail, phone, and online) renewal strategy, and a re-branded monthly donor program.
- We laid the groundwork for the introduction of new integrated fundraising channels such as face to face, and initial steps into on-air direct fundraising.
The Results
Quarter by quarter, TVO’s income was up between 26 to 40% over the previous year, and our happy client enjoyed their best quarter since 2006. With the work of stabilization and significant testing almost complete, TVO is now well-positioned to move forward into a serious expansion phase.
What’s important about this case study?
The results, of course. But also that TVO was looking for a single agency to develop and implement a multi-channel strategy. Although HMA and hjc are two separate companies, we joined forces and our Strategic Lead on their account (Chris Carter) led the HMA and hjc teams to provide seamless project management from some of our sector’s best multi-channel fundraisers.
Multi-Channel Engagement Pays Quantifiable Dividends
This post was written by Vinay Bhagat, Founder and Chief Strategy Officer from Convio.
Most nonprofits today are engaged in some form of multi-channel marketing, yet to date, most integrated marketing measurement efforts remain pretty immature. Working with one of our clients, CARE, Convio has completed a deep dive into multi-channel metrics. This report follows on from the first study on multi-channel engagement we completed in 2007. Our key findings are as follows:
- Multi-channel engagement pays off: Donors giving both online and through traditional offline channels demonstrated the highest annual financial value, returning on average 46 percent more than donors giving only through direct mail.
- Acquisition sources drive differing values: Online acquired donors have a higher frequency of giving if they only give online, but are less likely than traditional offline acquired donors to give frequently if they are a dual channel donor. Donors originating as online donors have much higher annual value than donors who originate as activists.
- More migration online to offline than vice versa: 10 percent of online acquired donors give offline, whereas less than 2 percent of offline acquired donors give online. This phenomenon is likely best explained by treatment strategies deployed and differences in life stage. However, his does not take into consideration prospects receiving direct mail that chose to give online instead of responding by mail.
- Online acquired donors who cross over to activism give more frequently: Online donors who cross over to advocacy give 46 percent more often. This suggests they are excellent candidates for monthly giving.
- Channel behavior correlates strongly with age: Not surprisingly, 60 – 90 year olds are predominately offline donors. In fact, 78 percent of offline only donors are over 60 years of age, whereas 76 percent of online only donors are under the age of 60. Dual channel donors split the difference, 50 percent of them are over/under 60.
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