In annual giving, direct mail and phonathons are responsible for as much as 90% of annual giving.  In this blog post, I’d like to suggest you consider a tool that has elements of both direct mail and phonathon and can boost the results of your existing campaigns. 

You can use automated phone messages to increase event attendance, raise membership levels, thank donors, boost direct mail campaigns, recruit more auction participants, lift pledge fulfillment or introduce new leadership to your constituents.

Automated messaging does these things better than almost any tool you may have tried.  Alone and in combination with other tools, this technique typically boosts results 15% to 50% and clients have reported exceeding fundraising goals by 20% after employing simple campaigns.

Sample Impact on a Direct Mail Appeal

Summer Appeal

- Received Lead 30-Second Message costing $0.10– 15% response rate, $33.25 average gift

- No Message – 10.3% response rate, $23.16 average gift

Christmas Appeal

- Received Lead 30-Second Message costing $0.10 – 11% response rate, $44.59 average gift

- No Message – 6.2% response rate, $23.15 average gift

You will be able to review the impact on any of your programs because you will receive full reports on who receives the calls and whether they receive the calls live or as a record voice or answering machine message immediately following the campaign.

 I encourage you to call and speak to me about these programs now.  There are many benefits:

• Working with a leader in automated messaging
• We have completed thousands of programs
• No project too big or too small with programs starting at $650
• Deliver different message live or to machines
• Redirect calls to a call center or your office
• Marketing advice including script writing
• Record message 24/7 and schedule message deliver when you want
• Observe all legal requirements

 We have many satisfied clients including:

Arthritis Foundation

ALSAC / St. Jude Hospital

Penn State University Alumni Association

Ohio State University

University of Arizona

Bennett College

DesMoines Area Community College

Salvation Army

American Red Cross

Call or email for more information.

Sincerely,

Brian

Brian Lacy

Brian Lacy and Associates

3122 Gannett Street

Houston, TX  77025

 brian@brianlacy.com

(860) 478-9291

Fax:  (713) 667-8352

If you are an annual giving professional, or if you have ever been one, you might be thinking I have been pondering the obvious … but over the past three years I have spoken to an organization which discontinued its phonathon, another which closed its annual giving program, and a large university which actually ceased development operations.

Today, I can happily share that the closed development program reopened, that the annual giving office recently hired not one but three development professionals, and while the phonathon isn’t yet calling even 20% of the available prospects, it again calls thousands of individuals annually.

In these challenging times I’d like to give any of you who need to speak out for your annual fund a little supporting information.  When debating the importance of annual giving and its value to our non-profit organizations, we must consider the following:

1) Annual giving donors have a lifetime value that far exceeds any one gift …  so even if we are down because of the economy or identifiable fundraising mistakes and don’t break even in a given year, our organizations will almost certainly be strengthened over time

2) Our annual giving is marketing of our non-profits to broad audiences … in effect our marketing is subsidized by fundraising and this must be considered an addition a return on our investment

3) More than 75% of $10,000+ donors, in one Target Analytics study, gave six or more annual gifts before their first $10,000+ gift … highlighting that indeed annual giving cultivates donors for even greater support in future

4) 88% of those the same $10,000 donors took three or more years from their first annual gift before making their $10,000+ gift … suggesting that for many, annual giving could be a necessary step before some make major gifts

5) Annual giving solicitation vehicles and tools often tell us more about the condition of our databases for all of our organizations activities … indeed mailing and conversations about annual giving often collect more information updates than any other activity of the non-profit

6) Meer and Rosen reported that a college graduate that has given $20 each of the first five years after graduating, will give eight times as much as the graduates to give one $100 in those five years … so it is not enough for us to have a fund for people to give to, we must have a program that actively seeks support and then a repeated renewal of that support

For more on your annual giving efforts, please give me a call or drop me an email.

Brian Lacy

(860) 478-9291

brian@brianlacy.com

SOCIAL MEDIA AND FUNDRAISING     ($175 Live / $175 Recording)  (Oct.19 at 2pm ET / 1pm CT / 11am PT)

What is the social media component to your fundraising strategy?  Join Jay Frost, a 25 year veteran of fundraising and a social media entrepreneur, as he takes you through Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and other major outposts of the social media revolution.  We will look at the specific cases where organizations have raised both awareness and money.   Following this seminar, you will be able to establish strategies, policies and guidelines for effective use of the many free tools available to nonprofits today.

For additional information on webinars offered by Brian Lacy and Associates:

Brian Lacy

(860) 478-9291

brian@brianlacy.com

Brian Kish, Asst. VP for Advancement at Salve Regina University

https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/763776683

Feb. 10   Direct Mail – Get what you ask for!

Scott VanDeusen, Exec. Director of Advancement Programs at St. John’s University

https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/944683523

Feb. 11    Twitter Your Way to Contributiions

Don Philabaum, President at Internet Strategies Group

https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/828464634

Feb. 16    Understanding Annual Giving’s Role as a Funnel for Major Gifts

Brian Kish, Asst. VP for Advancement at Salve Regina University

https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/112520459

Feb. 17   Maximizing the Impact of Your Phonathon

Brian Kish, Asst. VP for Advancement at Salve Regina University

https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/352016499

Feb. 23   International Prospect Identification and Research

Debbie Miller, Consultant and Presenter at Debbie Miller and Associates

https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/915037291

Feb. 24    Integrating Alumni and Annual Giving Messaging

Scott VanDeusen, Exec. Director of Advancement Programs at St. John’s University

https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/738749642

Feb. 25    Increase in Registrations in Your Online Community

Don Philabaum, President at Internet Strategies Group

https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/850157034

For example, the GE Foundation, founded the first matching gifts program in 1954 to encourage GE employees to support the needs of its employees former colleges and universities. Since then, companies and their foundations—including the GE Foundation—have broadened their guidelines to include many other types of community-serving nonprofit organizations, social services, the arts, or environmental organizations.

Historically, matching gifts from corporations represent approximately ten percent of the overall money companies donate to nonprofit organizations. With the recent economic decline many companies are closing or restricting their matching programs. Still close to five percent of Americans, and about three percent of Canadians, work for matching gift companies and can grow annual results by pursuing this low hanging fruit.

Statistics compiled by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) indicate that the average higher educational institution receives $30,000 more in matching gifts today than it did in the mid-1990s. Additionally, companies that at one time provided matching gifts solely to colleges and universities are now supporting a variety of causes. In 2003, 38 percent of the 965 companies surveyed by CASE matched gifts to “cultural organizations” as well as educational institutions. By comparison, in 1993, 23 percent of the companies in CASE’s survey matched gifts to cultural organizations.

In order to establish or improve the fundraising potential of your annual fund and broaden development efforts, you should enhance your matching gifts program by:
• Make matching gifts a priority;
• Include matching gifts as a consideration in all development areas;
• Know match eligibility before making appeals;
• Use matching gift incentives;
• Invest in your database;
• Get started now!

For more information on matching gift programming, please visit http://brianlacy.com/mg.html, email brian@brianlacy.com or call (860) 478-9291.
Sincerely,
Brian

Brian Lacy
Brian Lacy and Associates
www.brianlacy.com