dmn.ca ❯ Direct Marketing ❯ May 2010 7

The challengeAlmost 4 years ago, PLAN Canada was looking to offer donation options other than their long standing monthly donation program.

The solutionThey developed the GIFTS OF HOPE program, which packaged a variety of specific tangible items that Canadian donors could relate to, therefore bridging the gap between how these items would be understood and the impact they would have locally where they are needed most.

So, whether you have a preference for who you want to help - women only or people in Darfur, India or Pakistan. Or perhaps you have a strong affinity for how you help – a gift of literacy, clean water or a livelihood earned from a sewing machine. Or perhaps the ticket price for each item is the driving factor – spending $50, $100 or $10,000 – there is a Gift of Hope that will meet all your needs.

PLAN CANADA worked with The FSA Group to create customized thank you cards that not only thank donors for their donation, but also show the image of the item they selected and remind them of the great impact their donation will have in the community.

FSA created a database of variables - images and texts that would accommodate any scenario for each donor and for any gift donors (people who donate as a gift to someone else). Each thank you card file has all of the required variables coded to dynamically pull in all of the applicable variables for each customized thank you card. No two cards are alike – truly one-to-one marketing.

Cards can either be mailed back to the donor or addressed and mailed directly through Canada Post to the gift recipient illustrating the gift purchased in their honour.

Printing on FSA’s HP Digital Variable Color Press insures PLAN CANADA a high print quality with relevant messaging and images. The FSA Group came up with a flexible, relevant, print-on-demand solution that prevents storage costs with leftover, outdated inventory. The former two-step process of colour off-set print of the generic shell and black variable laser of the text, is now run in one personalized pass, saving both time and money. The ingenuity of the HP Indigo allows for multiple versions with minimal set up, compared to traditional off-set set up. The cards print weekly and are shipped within 48 hours.

The resultTurns out that giving people choice and letting them choose how they offer their help is widely appealing. The Gift of Hope program has been hugely successful and just came off its best year ever.

When you “honour” that individual selection through relevant marketing you finish off the donation experience on a high customer service note.

Case study: PLAN Canada Gift of Hope thank you card By Janice Dumphie, Account Director, FSA Group

Fundraising

Gift of Hope donationsClean Water for a family-$50�4

Goat-$75�4

Berkely-Darfur stove-$55�4

Literacy training for 2 �4

women-$100Classroom essentials in �4

Sierra Leone -$250 for an entire classroomMosquito net, Africa-$30.00�4

Girls only latrine-$100�4

Library in a Box -$600 for �4

10 kitsImmunize against polio �4

-$175, Afghanistan, India, Nigeria, Pakistan

Nonprofits that change with their younger donor pools and those that prove their value to constituents will be the big winners in the years to come, according to a list of the Top 10 future nonprofit trends released by Blackbaud. The list from Blackbaud, Inc. also indicates that nonprofits will be placing renewed emphasis on constituent stewardship and will continue to see growth in peer-to-peer fundraising, powered by technology and social media.

“The big priority for most nonprofits going forward will be to capture the interest of the younger donor—Millennials and Generation Thumb,” said Marc Chardon, Blackbaud’s chief executive officer. “As their traditional donor pools age, nonprofits need to adapt to engage a new, younger generation of supporters. Nonprofits must become more tech-savvy, more sophisticated and more flexible in finding ways to make giving more relevant and personal to a new generation.”

“It is clear that nonprofits will become more donor centric and will put expanded emphasis on collaborating with constituents as partners in the years to come,” said Paulette V. Maehara, CFRE, CAE, president and CEO, Association of Fundraising Professionals. “This shift will be critical to the success of nonprofits in an ever-changing world.”

Chasing Generation Thumb and proving value will be hot issues for nonprofits Blackbaud list also sees improved stewardship and peer-to-peer fundraising playing critical roles

1. Donor pools will continue to change. Constituents once comprised mostly of Baby Boomers are now becoming Millennials and Generation Thumb, and their interests are vastly different than their predecessors. They are more tech-savvy and interested in change for the world, not just in giving a quick donation to a cause. Nonprofits need to change their ways as traditional giving techniques won’t be as effective. They have to look at donors as partners and speak their language (leveraging social media and the latest cutting-edge technologies).

6. Donor stewardship will become even more important than it is now. As the world economy continues to struggle, it will become more difficult to secure donations, so keeping active donors informed and happy becomes a greater priority. In order to be effective stewards, nonprofits will have to change along with the technology and generations to stay part of the conversation and remain relevant.

2. Proving value will become more important. As world dialog shifts to social change from traditional philanthropy, nonprofits will have to prove their value to show they are making a difference. Radical transparency to very clearly show where funds are going will be critical.

7. Increased government regulations will have a greater impact on the industry. The trend seems to be heading towards more taxes for nonprofits as various levels of government look for new revenue streams. Nonprofits need to be fully aware of possible changes in legislation and work to make their voice heard.

3. Fundraisers will acquire new skills and an entrepreneurial spirit to be successful. Nonprofits will need to master all existing fundraising best practices and adopt new ones as they evolve. The best, most successful ones will become experts on the latest fundraising techniques, such as location-based initiatives and crowdsourcing.

8. Nonprofits will move from a broad donor management system to a single supporter database. This shift will facilitate a life-long supporter journey relationship and requires accurate data that is easily accessible. This will lead to improved integrated online/offline marketing that produces more, larger gifts and more effective events.

4. Social media will play an even more important role in engagement. Mobile devices, the Internet and social networks provide platforms for fundraisers to quickly organize a community of interest around a cause. Over the past few years, social networks have taken off; they’re now becoming location-based, and in the future there will be other added capabilities that will make them even more useful.

9. Relationships will still rule. Despite all the excitement over new technologies and networking applications, nonprofits should not forget the importance of personal relationships with their donors. This will be the one thing that will remain a critical fundraising element in years to come. In fact, because of the increasing ways people will be able to “virtually” interact, having a good personal relationship may become a unique differentiator.

5. Peer-to-peer fundraising will continue to grow. Because of the ubiquity of mobile devices and our growing social networks, supporters will reach out to their friends and family more than ever to raise funds on behalf of nonprofits. This may ultimately become the most popular fundraising initiative in the years to come.

10. Finding the right balance of online and offline presence will be critical in the coming years. Although offline donations still comprise the majority of overall giving, online donations are growing rapidly and nonprofits will need to effectively plan for that growth while maintaining their offline presence. They will have to become more tech savvy to stay current with the latest social media avenues and tune those efforts frequently to keep up with the pace and expectations of a new generation of donors.

Blackbaud’s Top 10 Predicted Nonprofit Trends include: