Reeher's Annual Giving Boot Camp is a 5-day virtual event where Annual Giving professionals ... Annual Giving, share bes
Top 10 Takeaways From 2017 Annual Giving Boot Camp
Top 10 Takeaways
2017 Annual Giving Boot Camp
Reeher’s Annual Giving Boot Camp is a 5-day virtual event where Annual Giving professionals from the Reeher Community gather to learn about current trends in Annual Giving, share best practices, and ask questions among peers. Below are some highlights of the information that was shared at Reeher’s 2017 event.
Reeher Annual Giving Mode Assessment (RAGMA) The Reeher Annual Giving Mode Assessment is designed to help institutions measure their current annual giving performance within their key areas of focus. Using the data from the Reeher Platform, we have estimated which institutions have placed a strategic priority within: • Direct Marketing: Those institutions with a high percentage of dollars linked to their direct marketing appeals • Parent Programs: Institutions with a high ratio of parent donors to graduating seniors • Leadership Annual Giving: Where large annual gifts are a major feature • Athletic Programs: A major athletics program connected to unrestricted annual giving This analysis is based on 94 colleges and universities who were live on the Appeals Management or Complete Reeher Platform in FY2016 and have agreed to be a part of the Reeher Community Benchmarks. The insight into annual giving results provided through the RAGMA is unique among the Reeher benchmarking tools and can help any program evaluate their own strategy and future direction.
The Best Use of Reeher Scores and Six Square Segmentation Every year Reeher presents one Boot Camp participant with an award for using the Reeher Predictive Scores and Six Square Segmentation. This year’s winner, Gustavus Adolphus College, developed a unique alumni outreach program using current students. Using Reeher Predictive Scores and past giving history, 800 households were selected to participate in the pilot program for fiscal year 2017. The groups are divided by giving history, class year, and location.
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Top 10 Takeaways
2017 Annual Giving Boot Camp
Here is the schedule the students followed to build these relationships:
The early wins include: • 25% giving participation • 51% retention of LYBNT donors • 50+ email correspondence with students • Multiple invitations to visit, 3 job offers, Cheetos & a tree Key Takeaways: • Get ready to hear ‘no’ • Hire great students • Rely on the data
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Top 10 Takeaways
2017 Annual Giving Boot Camp
Direct Marketing 101 – Getting the Most Out of Your Programs Segmenting by inclination and value will drive increases in donors and dollars faster and more efficiently than segmenting by donor status. This approach allows you to cast a wider net including those that have high probability that were not donors last year and will decrease your heat loss. A multi-channel approach is key to creating an impactful direct marketing program. Use channels strategically to balance with one another versus against.
Channel Spotlight: Mail and Phone – Is it Time to “Fire” the Fundamentals? Since 2013, mail has outperformed phone in both donors and dollars to the annual fund in the Reeher community. However, phonathons are not dead and can adapt to the current climate through strategic segmentation and staffing. When polled, 59% of the Boot Camp participants thought it may be time to think differently about phonathons.
Our research shows having a constituent’s cell phone number is a good indicator of increased inclination to give, but it does not necessarily increase the likelihood of the constituent to give through a phone appeal.
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Top 10 Takeaways
2017 Annual Giving Boot Camp
Understanding Appeals Performance 44% of the Reeher Community’s FY16 appeals that were identified in the platform were mail appeals. Phone generated 18% of the appeals. Email and Web were lagging a little bit behind at 11% and 4% respectively. All other channels cumulatively accounted for 22% of all appeals. Less can be more: Smart segmentation strategies can simultaneously improve your appeals’ total dollars raised and profit margins.
Maximizing Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Programs When leveraging Reeher’s Class Agent Fundraising module, prioritize prospects for assignments based on the Reeher Probability to Donate Index (PDI) score. Make sure to train agents how to find their own assignments with higher PDI and consider using different scripts for different types of media (phone, email, text) for a multi-channel approach. If you have a peer-to-peer fundraising program and are not yet leveraging Class Agent, you can try it for free for 14 days using demonstration data. Click here to access our Website to sign up for the trial.
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Top 10 Takeaways
2017 Annual Giving Boot Camp
Channel Spotlight on Email and Web The future is wide open! We are just beginning to understand the impact and potential of the email and web channels on direct marketing fundraising. There are expectations for these channels continue to grow. 67% of the participants polled said that they are seeing an overall growth in online giving.
Leadership Annual Giving Leadership annual giving programs are growing and changing in the Reeher Community, including programs in many different iterations. Consider reaching out to your peers to understand how they have overcome challenges while building their programs. Each level of the giving pyramid should feed new donors to the next level of giving over time. Consider incorporating a formal process for officers to pass prospects between levels of giving. Some leadership annual giving donors make great prospects for major gifts and vice versa. Create a program internally to support that activity so that your organization can meet the donor where they currently are.
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Top 10 Takeaways
2017 Annual Giving Boot Camp
Parents can also be an important part of your leadership annual giving program. Consider an approach that incorporates that segment to drive results quickly and to engage that segment.
Young Alums as Generational Leaders Generational Leaders are defined as the top 10% of donors, ten years after graduation. Monitor and invest in young alums to see who will grow into generational leaders by year 10. Our research showed that Generational Leaders gave four times as many years as non-generational leaders. The Reeher Platform users can now query on Generational Leaders including preferred class year.
Reeher’s Commitment to Annual Giving Reeher has been analyzing Annual Giving programs since 2003. We have analyzed channels, demographics, assessed performance and built these insights back into the Platform. Some of the on-going tool improvement include: • • • • •
Appeals Management Operating Reports Social Media Profiles Class Agent Fundraising Reeher Annual Giving Mode Assessment (RAGMA)
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