Year-End Fundraising Strategies to TURN IT UP (Online) DMFA DC Brown Bag Lunch 10.21.13 •Lesley Hostetter LAUTMAN MASKA NEILL & COMPANY •Dane Grams HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN •Marc Abanto BLUE STATE DIGITAL Moderator: Moira Kavanagh Crosby MKDM
May 16, 2015
Year-End Fundraising Strategies to
TURN IT UP (Online)DMFA DC Brown Bag Lunch 10.21.13
• Lesley Hostetter LAUTMAN MASKA NEILL & COMPANY
• Dane Grams HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN
• Marc Abanto BLUE STATE DIGITAL
Moderator: Moira Kavanagh Crosby MKDM
Reinforce a Sense of Community and Interaction at Year-end
Improve Response Rates by Engaging Donors BEFORE the Ask
Create a 1-1 connection. Authenticity works.
Not best practice: emails sent in Outlook!
Blue State DigitalEnd of Year successes and strategies
How to break through in EOY
• Volume• Urgency• Optimization
Volume: Send a lot of email
• The more you send, the more chances to give• Try different tactics to engage• Ramp up to big pushes in the final days of the
year
Urgency: Do it NOW
• Goals and deadlines: They work– Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund: 500 donors in
four days• Beat goal by 46.8%
– Civil rights organization: One day, $12,000 fundraising goal.
• Beat goal by 48.6%
Testing urgency
• A health organization tested two emails:– Email 1: A story about the great work they do
around the world– Email 2: An urgent ask focused on a potential
budget shortfall• The winner: Email 2 brought in 11 TIMES as many
donors, and raised 20 TIMES as much revenue.
Optimization
Quick donate
Streamline the user flow
Optimize landing pages
Email segmentation
VVMF: Bringing it all togetherFirst sustained EOY campaign
Eight emails and website optimizations
100% increase in donations
83% increase in donors
New Way Forward Campaign
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14
• 34 total versions• $462,515 raised• 3,533 new donors• 5,227 renewals
• 44 total versions• $492,387 raised• 3,700 new donors• 6,622 renewals
• 40 total versions• $482,288 raised• 3,321 new donors• 6,657 renewals
• 38 total versions• $515,987 raised• 2,297 new donors• 6,568 renewals
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Message #1 (12/27)
Message #2 (12/31)
Message #3 (1/8)
Message #4 (1/14)
Message #5 (1/17)
Message #6 (1/21)
Message #7 (1/22)
$0
$20,000
$40,000
$60,000
$80,000
$100,000
$120,000
2013: New Day New FightRevenue by Message
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Promotion Results
New Day New Fight (2013)
# Gifts Avg. Gift Total Raised
HRCnews (Dec) 28 $75 $2,105
HRCnews (Jan) 58 $51 $2,935
Web 4 $48 $190
Lightbox 793 $94 $74,514
Social Networks 305 $32 $9,878
Text Message 121 $41 $4,948
Facebook Remarketing 6 $33 $195
TOTAL 1,315 $72 $94,765
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Lightbox
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Text Message
More from Lesley
Logistics
• Our clients send 4-5 December emails
• In November, emails tend to support year-end
mailing. In December, emails “stand alone” and
focus on 12/31.
• Simple segmentation is helpful:
• Donor vs. Non donor
• DM vs. Non DM recipient
• Low Dollar vs. High Dollar vs. Sustainer
• By Affinity
More from Marc
End of Year: How we plan
Why do we test?
Worth $7,000 more PER MONTH
More from Moira
As part of your multipart year-end campaign be sure to email on the last day of the year. (Or campaign.)
Twice.(10% of total revenue to this campaign came in to the 8:26pm resend.)
Subject line je ne sais quoi
• Campaign deadline today VS. Last day
• Quick question VS. Watch my video message
• 8 days left VS. Merry and bright
• Choose your membership VS. What works for you?
• 10 reasons VS. Ten reasons
• It only takes one word VS. A message of love and support VS. One word
• A big night to cap off a big week VS. Tonight
Subject line je ne sais quoi
• Campaign deadline today VS. Last day
• Quick question VS. Watch my video message
• 8 days left VS. Merry and bright
• Choose your membership VS. What works for you?
• 10 reasons VS. Ten reasons
• It only takes one word VS. A message of love and support VS. One word
• A big night to cap off a big week VS. Tonight
Subject line je ne sais quoi• Light touch• A little unusual• A little mysterious• A little casual (“Hey”)• Short• Doesn’t scream fundraising• Something a real person would really write in an
email subject line• Different vernacular & pacing applies to body copy
too
Home Page Sync-Up
Home Page Sync-Up
No lightbox? No sweat.
THANK YOU!
• Lesley Hostetter [email protected] LAUTMAN MASKA NEILL & COMPANY
• Dane Grams [email protected] HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN
• Marc Abanto [email protected] BLUE STATE DIGITAL
• Moira Kavanagh Crosby [email protected] MKDM