More Members through Measured Marketing -By Baird Straughan & Pat Munoz - Chesapeake Watershed Forum, 2013.

More Members through Measured Marketing

-By Baird Straughan & Pat Munoz- Chesapeake Watershed Forum,

2013

Truth in Advertising

• This workshop was misrepresented.• Baird and Pat have worked with river and

watershed groups since the last millenium.• Confessed data-philes.• Confessed social media phobes.• Baird developed the River Network status

reports and the WaterGrass database.• Pat is a fundraising “angel” to various groups.

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How many of you distinguish between members and donors?

Goals of this session

• Learn the marketing “funnel” concept, with its various stages

• Share information on the results achieved by other river and watershed groups

• Identify the stages you want to focus on• Choose steps to improve your own marketing

funnel. (One may be to simply start measuring.)

Marketing funnel model

Marketing funnel

forrivers

organizations

Member and Donor Attrition in a small watershed group using Excel to track donors, with over 10 years of data, two solicitations per year.

From Gift 1 to Gift 2: 45%

First time members/donors:

361 gifts

2nd time members/donors:

198 gifts

Attrition:

From Gift 2 to 3: 33%

From Gift 3 to 4: 27%

From Gift 4 to 5: 60%

From Gift 5 to 6: 14%

How to visualize this much attrition?

Marketing funnel

forrivers

organizations

Repeatcontributions

1st Gift 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

The actual attritionN

umbe

r of D

onor

s w

ho G

ive

But what might have

been ….

1st Gift 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400 With 35% first year and 24% attrition thereafter

ProjectedReality

Num

ber

of D

onor

s w

ho G

ive

32 additional second donations at $85.18 donation

= $3,122 in additional revenue.

1st Gift 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400 With a 35/24% attrition rate

ProjectedReality

Num

ber o

f Don

ors

who

Giv

e

Over a period of 7 solicitations, 250 additional donations for

$21,330 in additional revenue.

If 40% of your donors give once and never again …… then they are your best marketing prospects.

Lesson#1

Write down:• Your renewal rate, if you

know it.• How many renewal

reminders you send before giving up.

• How many newsletters per year?

• How many email communications per year?

• How many appeals per year?

Exercise #1:Shutting the Faucet

• In your groups, share your numbers.

• One person: post your numbers on the flipcharts on the side.

• Look around at the flipcharts. What do you notice?

• What changes do you want to make? Note those.

Exercise #1:Shutting the Faucet

Repeatcontributions

Conversion

Measured Marketing at the Rock Creek Conservancy

What Makes RCC Special

Affluent urban neighborhoods with many highly educated community-oriented citizens.

A capable database

Image from WaterGrass

A lot of work.

Board Board/Staff Recruits New Member Mailings End of Year Mail Appeals (2008-2009)

$-

$10,000

$20,000

$30,000

$40,000

$50,000

$60,000

$70,000

$80,000

$90,000

RCC’s Initial Recruitment Strategies15 people first give as board members; since then, they’ve given

$29,630.

Board members then recruit 107 friends, who by now have given

$56,656.

535 people respond to direct mail membership solicitations. By now they’ve given

$78,962.

93% renewal 79% 61%

Take-away:

• Donors recruited because they were on the board

• + Donors recruited by the board• + Donors recruited by direct mail solicitations

for new members

gave 71% of the total non-grant income for Rock Creek Conservancy until now.

EVENTS:

Rock Creek Conservancy hasn’t used events for recruiting new members, but events have been instrumental in encouraging existing members and donors to give again and in greater amounts.

Subject: Roses are red ... Roses are redViolets are blueWe need your helpTo bid English ivy adieuRoses are redEnglish ivy is greenHelp us eradicate itAnd keep our park cleanHelp us control non-native invasive vines in Rock Creek Park with a donation. Be a sweetheart, and show Rock Creek you care!Happy Valentine's Day!Beth MullinExecutive DirectorRock Creek Conservancy

EMAIL SOLICITATIONSBeth’s email appeals get as much as 1% response, which is stupendous. Most are previous donors. The emails bring in 56 new donors, but only 34% give again.

DOOR HANGERS!

9 people signed up due to these door hangers, 66% renewed, and they’ve given generously since.

VOLUNTEERS

2013ExtremeCleanup

TILL NOW, ONLY 2% OF PEOPLE WHO BEGAN BY VOLUNTEERING DONATE.

People who donated first People who volunteered first0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900N

umbe

r of P

eopl

e

88% have never vol-unteered

94% have never do-nated

Another organization with more data on volunteer participation shows the same “silos.”

EVENTS

Events Grow

Large

Donations

Total Dollars from Major Donations ( Donations > $250)

From Events

More and Diversified Asks Encourage Multiple Gifts

2008 2009 2010 2011 20120

20

40

60

80

100

120

Number of Gifts over $250

Number which were multiple donations

Special Appeals

First Contribution Second0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

74 people made their first contribu-tion to an appeal letter.

But only 9 have made a second donation.

Write down:• How many new members

you got this year, if you know it?

• How many new member solicitations you send out?

• How many in-person solicitations?

• Other means you use to recruit members.

Exercise #2:Converting More People to Become Members

In your group:• Share your results and

capture them on your flipcharts.

• Identify one strategy for member recruitment that’s new to most of you.

Share in large group.

Note what you’d like to change.

Exercise #2:Converting More People to Become Members

Conversion

Contact

WEBSITE VISITORS

(to be completed)

Web (2008-2010) Web 2011 Web 2012 Web 2013 $-

$1,000

$2,000

$3,000

$4,000

$5,000

$6,000

$7,000

$8,000

$9,000

68%32%

25%

68%

6 gifts.50% gave again.Average lifetime donation till now: $406.

FACEBOOK

The kind of posts which got attention in Facebook were like this:

So far, most Facebook friends haven’t crossed over into other actions.

0

100

200

300

400

500

600 504

658 3

People in the database because they’ve given, or volunteered, or signed up for emails, etc.

Write down:• How many contacts do you

make through online methods? (If you don’ t know, how will you measure?)

• What online methods will you focus on now?

Exercise #3:Making Contact with Potential Members

Share in your groups:• What area of membership

marketing will you focus on first when you return home?

Exercise #3:Making Contact with Potential Members

Main Points:• Measure so you can learn

what works.• Asking personally or by

letters is still the most effective approach.

• Converting more volunteers to donors would improve fundraising a lot.

• Website donations are rising and important for the future.

What gets measured matters.

Baird Straughan, baird@leadgreen.orgPat Munoz, pmunoz@rivernetwork.org