Transcript FUN HOW TO PUT THE IN YOUR ANNUAL FUND … and achieve results

HOW TO PUT THE
FUN
IN YOUR ANNUAL FUND
… and achieve results
THIS IS HOW WE ROLL…
1.
What we want you to get out of today.
2.
How we hope this afternoon’s session
will play out.
Canisius College Annual Fund:
Who We Are
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Amy: three years in fundraising, four years in
marketing, four years in public relations
Kirsten (rhymes with ear): six years in fundraising
Annual Fund: three full-time staff, one graduate
assistant, two work study students, 30 call center
students
Our Philosophy
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The Canisius College Annual Fund implements
marketing strategies using fundraising tactics to
effectively and efficiently solicit donor constituencies.
Know the strengths of your team.
Don’t take yourself too seriously!
Think outside of the box – in your segmenting, letters,
telefunding, direct mail tests, and stewardship.
STREAMLINE whenever possible.
HAVE FUN!
Our Goals
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Canisius College is in the quiet phase of a
comprehensive capital campaign. The annual
fund’s goal is to increase giving from $2 to $3
million, a seven percent increase each year for
seven years. Year two has just been completed.
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Our annual goals are the same as yours:
 Increase giving
 Increase donors, particularly alumni participation
 Try to do it both in the same year
Canisius College Annual Fund:
What We’ve Done
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During the past three years, the annual fund
team has:
1. Increased donors by 22%, of which 17% is alumni
2. Increased annual giving by 14%
The call center students have:
1. Increased donors by 37%
2. Increased giving by 55%
3. Decreased refusals by 52%
How did you do that?
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Segmenting
Direct Mail:
 Creative collateral & letter writing
 Testing, testing and more testing!
 Coordination of campus solicitations
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Student Telefunding:
 Three rules of telefunding
 The calling matrix
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Leadership Society ($1,000+)
 How does it fit into the puzzle?
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Volunteer Engagement
 Annual Fund Volunteers
 Engaging Volunteers
Segmenting
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LOYALS, LYBUNTS, SYBUNTS, Lapsed and
Nondonors
 LOYALS: a donor who consistently gives for five
consecutive years
 LYBUNTS: Last Year But Unfortunately Not This Year
OR renewals
 SYBUNTS: Some Year But Unfortunately Not This
Year OR a donor who have given between two and five
years ago.
 LAPSED: a donor who gave six or more years ago
 NONDONOR: never not ever has this person given
even one cent to the college
Segmenting… ahh, there’s more!
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Class year
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 Reunions
 50s decade
 GOLD or young alumni
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Affinity
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Athletics
Campus Ministry
MBA Graduate School
Department, clubs, etc.
Constituency
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Alumni: general, young, reunion
Parents
Businesses & Vendors
Faculty & Staff
Students
Leadership
AND WE
HAVEN’T EVEN
TOUCHED THE
SURFACE!
Creative Approaches to
Direct Mail
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The marketing approach:
 What is your message? Is it consistent with your
university’s brand? Is it what your donors want to hear or
what you think should be said?
 How is your annual fund positioned? Do you have talking
points that can be incorporated into all of your
solicitations – both mail and phone?
 Have you coordinated your messaging with the college’s
communication department?
 How do you segment your mailings? AND Are you
targeting your message to the appropriate audience(s)?
 Is your message consistent across the board?
 RESEARCH, RESEARCH, RESEARCH!
Creative Approaches to
Direct Mail
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Fundraising tactics:
 Have you personalized your letter? Can you personalize
it beyond the address block and salutation?
 Did you incorporate an ASK?
 Are you telling donors why their support is needed or how
their past support has been used? OR are you showing
them?
 Are you creating or building upon a relationship?
 FOOD FOR THOUGHT: how many times do you thank a
donor before sending another solicitation?
 ANOTHER MORSEL: did you institutionalize your letter
or can you make it real (humor, heart-strings, tongue-incheek)? Remember: don’t take yourself too seriously!
Direct Mail:
The Power of Tests
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Did you know that when asked, your donors will
specifically say that they, themselves, do not
want an incentive or recognition for a gift, but
they believe others do?
TRUTH: your donors want recognition or an
incentive for making a gift to your university.
Every general alumni solicitation should include a
measurable incentive to test this theory.
Direct Mail: Example Tests
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Survey:
1. Mailed as part of the CYE 2005 solicitation package to
alumni who graduated in odd years.
2. Results: $30,790 from 314 donors: 159 renewals, 17 new
and 138 recovered donors.
3. Investment: $4000 ($3,500 consultant fee)
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Luggage tags:
1. Sent to donors throughout 2005 who made a gift or
fulfilled a pledge of $25 or more and provided updated
business information.
2. Results: $19,614 from 122 donors: 77 renewals and 45
recovered donors.
3. Investment: $1000
Direct Mail: Example Tests
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Address Labels: CYE 2005
1. Mailed to former givers only.
2. Results: $10,394 from 155 donors; 20 new donors and 135
recovered donors.
3. Investment: $760
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Address labels: FYE 2007
1. Mailed as incentive to givers and young alumni donors whose last
gift was under $50. If last gift was doubled and paid by 12/31,
address labels were received.
2. Goals: increase average gift, increase cash receipts, recapture
SYBUNT & lapsed donors.
3. General alumni results: 27 donors who gave $525 last year and
increased to $1,150; 7 donors recaptured.
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Average gift increased from $19.44 to $59.14.
4. Young alumni results: 30 donors who gave $1,430 last year and
increased to $1,905; 8 donors recaptured.
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Average gift increased from $47.67 to $63.50.
5. Investment: $25 (remaining labels from 2005)
Direct Mail: Example Tests
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Hearts of Fire: Praying with the Jesuits books
1. Mailed in CYE 2007 as incentive to givers whose last
gift was $50+. If last gift was doubled and paid by 12/31,
received book with unique bookplate.
2. Goals: increase average gift, increase cash receipts,
recapture SYBUNT & lapsed donors.
3. Results yielded 63 donors who gave $8090 last year
and increased to $24,575 this year
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Average gift increased from $128.41 to $261.27 from
same donors; 30 donors recaptured.
4. Investment: $800
Direct Mail: Example Tests
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Static Stickers
1. Mailed in FYE 2007 as incentive to renewals to increase
last gift and former givers to renew last gift. If gift was
made and received by 5/15, static sticker was received.
2. Goals: increase renewal giving, recapture former givers,
increase cash receipts.
3. Results yielded 126 donors who gave $4713 last year
and increased to $9413
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Average gift increased from $44.63 to $74.71 from the
same donors; 81 donors recaptured.
4. Investment: $700
Direct Mail: Example Tests
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No direct mail tests were incorporated into any
2006 solicitations.
Donor participation remained exactly the same
from the previous year!
Campus-wide Direct Mail
Solicitations
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Streamline solicitations sent from various
campus offices
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Graduate Business Office
Athletics (16 NCAA sports)
Campus Ministry (Alternative Spring Break; five Service
Immersion Trips)
Provide or assist in entire mailing process
including individual reports
The 411 on Student Telefunding
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Three rules for success:
1. ENGAGE
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Hire/recruit callers like you would your development staff.
Strategically placed, focused and committed callers will always
yield higher results.
2. EMPOWER
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Share with your student callers the strategic goals of your
institution allow them to personalize each contact.
What do your goals mean to/for them?
3. ENERGIZE
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Make certain that callers are content and excited, not just about
the institution, but about their role in its success.
Thank them and always give feedback!
The Calling Matrix
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Fall Semester
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Spring Semester
1.
August – October: call all
LOYALS and LYBUNTS,
beginning with alumni and
parents.
1.
January – mid-February: begin
with SYBUNTS and LAPSED
2.
February: call NONDONORS
with emphasis on young alumni
3.
March – April: go back to
LAPSED & SYBUNTS
4.
April – May: end with a
thorough follow up on
SYBUNTS, LYBUNTS and
LOYALS
2.
3.
October – November: follow
up with all other LYBUNTS
and alumni SYBUNTS
November – December: fill in
with all SYBUNTS
Canisius College
Leadership Society ($1,000)
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Current annual giving: $1.4 million from 586 donors
60 percent of total annual giving at Canisius
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Goals:
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1. Increase LS donors to 1,000+ by 2010
2. Increase average gift
3. Decrease the percentage of Leadership giving in overall
annual fund
4. Incorporate and ensure annual Leadership solicitations in
comprehensive campaign
Leadership Society: Solicitations
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Direct mail:
 Fall: Invitation to Leadership Society Membership
 Mailed to all identified LS renewals & prospects
 NEW! Mailed to all donors of $250+
 Results: generated 18 new LS donors, 35 recaptured
donors and 79 donors who increased last year’s gift.
 CYE & FYE: segmented letters by renewal and
prospect
Leadership Society: Telefunding
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Telefunding:
 Five volunteer call nights
 Two in October
 Two in December
 One in March
 Calls are primarily made to ALL renewals with the
exception of donors who are being actively solicited for
major gifts
 Last fall, one donor in one night made $100,000
Leadership Society: Fidelis Circle
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NEW THIS YEAR! (Thank you, Xavier!)
Giving level designed to recognize LS members
who choose to support Canisius with a minimum
annual gift of $1,870 per year for five years
Benefits:
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All those received by LS members PLUS:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Limited edition lapel pin
Personal concierge service through a 800 line
Exclusive invitations to events with College’s President
Bottle of wine, compliments of Canisius alumni winery
owners
Leadership Society: Fidelis Circle
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Goal: 24 charter members
Results:
 59 donors
 40 increased pledge
 16 kept pledge the same
 3 decreased their pledge
 $1.2 cumulative pledge total 2007-2011
(~$230,000 per year)
Leadership Society: Peer Screening
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Purpose: to find new prospects, rate them for
capacity, gain additional demographic information
about alumni and engage volunteers
Peer Screening Session Overview
Four peer screening events were completed during
this academic year
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Financial Industry
Alumni Chapter
Doctors
Athletics
Results of each are run through Wealth Engine to
compare volunteer ratings
Individual solicitation plans will be created and
implemented next fall
Annual Fund Volunteers
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Annual Fund Campaign Cabinet
 The campaign cabinet consists of a group of volunteers
representing each constituency: alumni, young alumni, leadership
society, parents, businesses and friends, Blue & Gold, faculty and
staff.
Class Fund Agents
 Class Fund Agents are representatives who solicit classmates
through letters, phone calls and personal visits.
 Strong participation in the 1940s and 1950s decades, young
alumni and reunion years.
Letter Signers
 Letter signers are volunteers chosen by the annual fund staff to
appeal to other prospects with similar interests or circumstances.
Volunteer Callers
 Alumni, parents and friends of the college who opt to make calls
to their class or peers on behalf of the annual fund.
Engaging Volunteers
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Keeping Volunteers interested and involved:
 Too often we look for “warm bodies” to fill volunteer roles – if
that happens, the person or the position is a problem.
 What are the strengths of your volunteer?
What are their interests?
 Are you creating meaningful roles?
Volunteers require a sense of ownership!
 Have you told them lately how much you love them?
When you thank your volunteers, tell them specifically how they
have made an impact.
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Volunteer Recognition
 Canisius College recognizes all volunteer efforts through tokens
of appreciation, lunches and public thank yous, most notably the
annual Volunteer Picnic.
Thank you!