January 29, 2015 Maximizing the Middle Break through with best practices in middle donor development Derek Torry, Vice President Robbin Gehrke, SVP, Creative

January 29, 2015

Maximizing the MiddleBreak through with best practices in middle donor development

Derek Torry, Vice PresidentRobbin Gehrke, SVP, Creative Strategy and Integration

Traditional donor pyramid

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Regular

Middle

Major

The typical development department model

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Major

Regular

Middle

A better approach

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Regular

Middle

Major

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Who exactly are middle donors?

• Not major donors, but not regular donors either• Single Largest Gift: $100 - $9,999.99

• Cumulative Annual Giving: $1,000 - $9,999.99

• Capacity Rated: Wealth screened high, but low current giving

• Frequently misunderstood• They might be major gift prospects – should we pull them from the mail stream?

• They give via mail, so should we just keep mailing them but ask for larger gifts?

• What do they want and how do we give it to them?

What makes a middle donor unique?

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• Give larger gifts less frequently• Often give at the same time of year every year

• Appreciates personally relevant recognition

• Responds well to mail that is both emotionally compelling and supported by facts/figures

• Gravitates to special project offers and mini-campaigns that offer unique giving opportunities beyond food/meals

• Gives online, but motivated through online + offline communication

• Desires insider access to your organization and leadership

What impact do middle donors have?

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Year # of Gifts Income Average $

2011 90,425 $22,834,468 $253

2012 94,471 $23,765,641 $252

2013 95,643 $23,691,555 $248

2014 95,084 $24,244,712 $255

Keys to success with Middle Donors

1. Different thinking (building a hybrid model)

2. Heavy reliance on data/analytics (to identify capacity, loyalty and likelihood to upgrade)

3. Executive alignment around the investment and objectives

4. Team buy-in around shared goals

5. Comfort with sometimes “fuzzy” attribution of media

6. Donor-centricity

7. Inspiring and tangible offers

8. Substance

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9. Integrated communication stream

10. Stewardship

11. Personal engagement

12. Modified frequency

13. Time

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Keys to success with Middle Donors

Integrated middle donor campaigns

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Case Study: Second Harvest Heartland

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Objectives

• Inspire middle and major donors to help capture un-harvested fresh produce for hungry families

• Raise $250,000 in net revenue to provide 1.2 million pounds of produce – and 900,000 meals

Integration flow• Main mailing• Followup mailing• Fundraising phone call• 3 part email series, starting as followup package drops

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Offer• Your gift will double in impact to help capture un-harvested

produce from local farmers, and bring the bounty to the food bank and on to local food pantries

• We applied a custom segmentation strategy based on each donor’s giving history, to maximize both average gift and and response rate

• Then we paired this methodology (using Target Analytics) with major gift likelihood scores

• Created a tailored ask strategy for each donor

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Second Harvest Heartland

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Second Harvest Heartland-- Followup

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Results

• Raised $265,400

• More than double the net income from last year’s 3 regular appeals from February through April


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Goal

• Raise $495,000 to expand high school program by building a supervised boarding residence for Lakota Sioux students

Audience

• File of 30,000 with $100 + single largest gift

• Never before targeted with unique offers

Case Study: St. Joseph’s Indian School

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Strategy

• Engage these donors with a high-touch campaign

• Educate them about the need for high school expansion

• Provide a tangible way to connect with “a child you’re helping”

• Invite them to visit and see results


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St. Joseph’s Indian School

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Results

• Over 20% response

• $174 average gift

• $812,000 raised against $495,000 goal


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Objectives

• Leverage the holiday season with an urgent and unique opportunity to provide cleft surgeries for 1,481 children

before year end. • Raise $220,000 in gross revenue

Audience

• High-end donors who gave gifts of $240 to $9999 in last 24 months

• Regular donors giving $15 to $239 in last 24 months

Case Study: Operation Smile Holiday Matching Challenge

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Offer

• Thanks to a special Holiday Matching Challenge, your gift will double to send volunteers who will give up their own holiday to change children’s lives forever

• $240 that gives 1 surgery now doubles to give 2 surgeries

• $480 becomes $960, etc

• $1,200 stretch ask to sponsor 2 operating tables for one day, and give surgeries to 10 children

• Regular donors received a more modest upgrade ask


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Integration flow- 6 weeks

• Pre-campaign phone blast from CEO/Founder

• Pre-campaign email

• Main direct mail package

• 2-4 emails

• Chaser package

• Fundraising phone call

• Urgent deadline email

• Web display and social media ads ran throughout


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Operation Smile Holiday Matching Challenge

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Operation Smile– followup mailing

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Results

• Raised over $1.2 million

• A 400% increase over the goal of $220,000

• Response rate from higher-end donors was 12%

• A 2.2% lift over previous year

• Average gift of $271

• ROI increased by 27% over previous year

• Raised $6.50 for every dollar spent


Questions?

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Thank You

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Case Study: IFCJ

Goal

• Engage middle donors to help persecuted Jews make “Aliyah” (emigrate to Israel)

• Increase long-term revenue from the $100 - $9,999 donor segment

• Raise gross revenue of $447,000 to $597,000

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Offer

• Every gift of $500 will help provide airfare to Israel for one person

• Plus shelter, food, and job training until they can take care of themselves

Case Study: IFCJ

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Integration flow

• Postcard/phone blast (50/50 test)

• Main mailing

• Follow-up mailing

• Telemarketing follow up

Case Study: IFCJ

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IFCJ

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IFCJ

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IFCJ

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IFCJ

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IFCJ

Results

• Raised $1,148,142 gross from 19,096 donors

• Nearly doubled the goal of $447,000 - $597,000

• $417.96 average gift

• Net revenue: $972,100

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Case Study: IFCJ

Documents

January 29, 2015 Maximizing the Middle Break through with best practices in middle donor development Derek Torry, Vice President Robbin Gehrke, SVP, Creative