Individual GivingDriving Response from the Middle:

Ideas for developing your Middle Donor Program

“She is not your donor. You are one of her charities.”Mark Phillips, BlueFrog

“Mid-Value Donors is the hottest trending topic in fundraising today. But is it really ‘Mid Value Donors’ or the ‘next’ segment of donors who you do not have a strategy of personally stewarding for. The charities that go the extra mile in servicing donors, from actual handwritten notes – to remembering birthdays and really engaging donors in genuine 2 way conversation will win the retention wars. The charities that keep it personal will succeed.”

Vik Chowdhary, Fred Hollows AU

Cultivate and nurture a strong

bond and relationship

Raise (more) revenue

Who

Who are mid value donors?

Major Donors

Mid Value Donors

Everyone Else

Who are mid value donors?

Major Donors

Mid Value Donors

Everyone Else

Beware Cumulative

Giving

83%87%

85%88%

86%87%

86%

88%

0

10 K

20 K

30 K

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Don

ors

Existing Donors New Donors

High Value Recruitment

Base: All high value donors

They are already your donors

Major4%

Mid are in the next 16%

Normal are the remaining 80%

First Gift Value Band (where they started)

% of 2018 High Value Donors ($1k+ giving)

$0 - $499 54%

$500 - $999 19%

$1k - $2.5k 14%

$2.5k - $5k 8%

$5k - $10k 3%

$10k+ 2%

Recruitment Channel Source (how they first gave)

% of 2018 High Value Income ($1k+ giving)

Direct Mail 40%

Online 13%

Phone 2%

Other 45%

Selected by Recency, Frequency & Value

46%

In Action

They are committed – you are one of their charities

Higher commitment & satisfaction

They are organised – they know who they give to and

often when

They search for clues/rules on how much to give.

Will give more when a project inspires them

They like to give to specific projects or goals

They need positive action in response to a gift – special is

normal to them

Choose not to read much of the direct mail they receive –because not aimed at them

Regularly read magazines and newsletters

They can be group orientated

Understand a team of givers can make it possible to

accomplish a larger project

May resist personal visitation and face-to-face

May find events more appealing

Receptive to phone interaction and relationship

by phone

Making more effort with your top donors increases income

Pack Type Mailed Net Income RR% Avg Cash Gift ROI

Mid Value83 $35,365 44.6% $984.46 34.4

Standard Value

8,544 $86,855 13.3% $105.89 3.6

What & How• Middle Donor Product

• Elevated Current Program

• Donor Care

Middle Donor Product

“I actually keep a binder clip of index cards for organisations I support and I write on it the date and amount when I give and I write on it the date of every fundraising appeal I get. So if I get an extra fundraising appeal in the year I generally tell [the charity] OK your renewal date is now a year from now…so they keep putting off their gifts if they keep sending me premature announcements.”

“I give every December and they should know that. They have the systems. I’d like an annual reminder that it’s time to give, but all of these other letters just show that they don’t know me.”“Trouble is the more you get the less you read and so perhaps you miss the parts that you would be interested in… bite sized and relevant is what they should be aiming for. Or perhaps give us the chance to say more of that and less of this.”

THEORY

• Solicit less often and ask for larger amounts, supplemented with regular, systematic interactions to augment the relationship

BRANDED NAME

• Express to donors they are part of a special group, one that commands the attention and respect of the organisation

• E.g. Human Rights Campaign - The Federal Club, The Nature Conservancy - Last Great Places Society

PERSONAL POINT OF CONTACT & ELEVATED CARE

• Name, phone & email address

• Contactable

Spec

ial F

un

d

Solicitation mail invitation& phone call

YesRing fenced for

communications specific to fund for set timeframe

May receive additional asks based on identified

interestRenewed upon expiration

NoRemain in current

programSolicitation / Invitation in

subsequent years

• Critical • The person: Pat• Transparency• Keeping in

Touch & a planned experience that makes their giving easy

• Getting to know the individuals

• Branded Mid-Value Regular Giving Community

• Scarcity Model: only 50 members• Funds the fundraising /

administration of the organisation .. but really funding the Mission & impact

Elevated Current Program

“Many respondents thought that the majority of charity communications were not actually aimed at them. Instead, a

significant number of the packs, emails and ads that fundraisers work so hard to produce are assumed to be for another audience.”

What do they like giving to?

Their own projects

• Give them ownership

• Allows for a reward – an end point or goal achieved

To buy things

• Make their giving feel tangible

Innovation & Novelty

• New, special, exclusive …

Example ProgramSolicitation Campaigns

• 3 x multi channel from standard program

Newsletter / Survey

• 2 x Tailored

Report Backs (Cultivation Campaigns)

• Mail & Phone

Annual Impact Donor Care

• Personalised impact focused

Mid Value DM Appeals

• 3 x stretch, mini or special campaigns

Mid Value DM Appeals

•Stretch / Mini Campaign – specific impact: upgrade giving levels

•Special – elevated middle donor tactics: drive response from mid value

• Special – elevated middle donor tactics: drive response from mid value

Audiences Pack

Top 150Top Mid Value

C5 OuterLetterExtra personalised response formGM Business cardBREPersonalised first response kit liftBaby Francis liftAmbulance officer run sheetMagnetic photo frame – baby CPRPersonalised with comps slipSpecial thank you piece

Mid Value Test C5 OuterLetterPersonalised response formBREPersonalised first response kit liftBaby Francis liftAmbulance officer run sheetSpecial thank you piece

Standard Value DL OuterLetterPersonalised response formBREFirst response kit liftBaby Francis lift

• Positive feedback from donors

• Target surpassed

• Extremely strong response from Mid Value

• $200,000 from just 55 people

• 65+ bags donated (valued at $3,500)

• Strong response from Mid Value prospect audience – testing Mid Value pack

Mini-campaigns & Stretch efforts

• Middle donors respond very well to mini-campaigns and stretch offers• a tangible approach that offers multiple

giving options within a specific project or area

• aims to increase average gifts

Assistance Dogs

2018 Tax Appeal

Pack A – Top DonorsC5 OE - handwritten address & stamp

Letterhead on textured stock

HV Response Mechanism on textured stock

HV BRE (Handwritten address by ADA)

Lift 1/Lift 2/Lift 3 – HV Stretch ask

Card & C6 Envelope

Address labels

Pack B – Mid Value Control (no Stretch Ask)DLX - Lasered Address

Letterhead on textured stock

Response Mechanism

BRE

Lift 1/Lift 2

Card & C6 Envelope

Address labels

Pack C – Mid Value Test (Stretch Ask)DLX - Lasered Address

Letterhead on textured stock

High Value Response Mechanism on textured stock

BRE

Lift 1/Lift 2/ Lift 3 - HV Stretch ask

Card & C6 Envelope

Address labels

Pack D – Standard Value DLX Outer Envelope

Letterhead & Response Mechanism

BRE

Card & C6 Envelope

Address labels

Stretch Ask Approach – 4th Ask

The stretch ask pack included an additional lift and a different RM, with the reference to the stretch amount on it

Gave the donor a tangible reason to give more than their three targeted asks

• Example: a donor whose targeted asks were $1,000, $1,500, $2,000 would receive a targeted ask 4 of $3,000. The closest monthly cost to $3,000 is the cost of training a puppy for two months = $2,917

• Therefore the asks would be $1,000, $1,500, $2,000, $2,917

Pack A: Top Donor | Pack B: Mid Value Control | Pack C: Mid Value Test| Pack D: Standard Value

Pack Type RR% ROI Average Gift

A 25.5% 36.56 $1,080

B 21.8% 5.55 $99

C 19.4% 5.39 $116

D 8.2% 1.36 $38

What if you made more effort with standard value donors?

• Sending a mid-value pack to standard value donors increased response rate by 7% with minimal change in average gift but still overall higher ROI

• More active donors, higher retention rates

• Regional charity needing to fund a new Air Ambulance Aircraft

• Additional mailing in schedule

• Focus on Mid Value for bulk of income (and expenditure)

• Incorporated matching gift opportunity (up to $100k from a Foundation)

• $197k target (over and above the matched gift)

Key tactics:• Make it look/feel different - threw away the style guide • The personal touch:

• Included Fundraising Manager’s full contact details in several places, this lead to some important and wonderful conversations

• Personal invite to the base, very few took it up, but many commented that they appreciated it

• The letterhead “From the desk Ian Pirie” – used his name rather than his CE title to keep it more personal/friendly

• The tangible proposition: even though it was one big plane, they broke it up in to smaller chunks that people could fund. Proposition “buy a piece of the plane”

• Plane plans and specs: Including the insert with plans/specs of the plane appealed to a certain group of their supporters who love aviation and like the tangible side of what their gifts achieve

• Authenticity: Especially important for us as some of our supporters are experts in medicine or aviation. LifeFlight team spent a lot of time with their pilots/engineers/crew people/medical teams etc to understand the project, the costs, the various tangible bits, the benefits for patients and our team members

The best part: The community was successful in raising enough funds to buy the plane, fit out like a flying intensive

care unit, and launch it.

It saved its first life in August 2017.

In its first year of flying the new plane team has saved 494 lives and is saving many more every day

Donor Care

Newsletters & Report Backs BTW as a former magazine editor, I've often thought that many charity magazines miss a big trick. Instead of being about the organisation, they should be about the subject (not necessarily the 'cause') that the charity deals with, because that's what fires up the supporter. Just as someone who is passionate about football or current affairs wants to read about their interests in a football or current affairs magazine, so someone who is passionate about human rights wants to read about that in a human rights magazine (which is not necessarily the same thing as reading a magazine about a human rights organisation).

Ian MacQuilin,

Rogare, University of Plymouth

Make the most of your Thank You opportunity

“We update middle donors on the impact that their gifts are having”

“On a recent program visit to Jordan, we sent postcards to a selection of high value givers. A few months later we reached out to some of them to invite them to participate in a matched gift. When speaking to one of the supporters, who went on to donate 10k to support the program, he mentioned the postcard, and said how delighted he was to have received it. He had photocopied it and handed out copies to everyone at his church.”

“We send thank you videos from the field to high value donors – or other supporters who might be celebrating a milestone – like a birthday.”

Ruthann Richardson, Act for Peace

“We believe that listening to our supporters, responding to them, and surprising them every once

and awhile is the RIGHT thing to do.”

Ruthann Richardson, Act for Peace

Act for Peace’s cash donor retention is 13% higher

than market

What are your additional high touch opportunities?

• Events

• Webinars

• Field visits

• Certificates of appreciation

• Acknowledgement Strategy• Standing rules• Planned with campaign development

• Call top donors for a chat – work your way down the list

• Invite top donors in for a chat

• Mini survey on response forms

• Phone survey (e.g. follow up an ask)

• Feedback forms (e.g. in donor care mailing)

Reactive Donor Care Strategy

• Who speaks to donors? Are they the right people?

• Assign a mid-value donor phone rep• If your volume is high consider outsourcing to ensure quality and

consistency

• Have your FAQs responses up-to-date

• Are your response scripts and emails warm & donor focused?

• Train, monitor, feedback, train, train

• Give your team the space to surprise and delight

“Our vision as a Supporter Engagement team is todeliver to supporters experiences of Greenpeace and

our campaigns that truly engage them. We look to develop a sense of belonging and community, so each

supporter feels like a member of our team and that their individual support counts. We want our

supporters experiences with us to be different, better and more rewarding than any other

organisation in NZ.”

Measurement

Objective setting

Increase Donor Value

Increase Average Gift

Increase Retention

Rates

Increase Commitment

levels

Increase Mid Level Upgrades

Increase Major Donor prospect pool

Increase upgrades

from development level donors

MonitoringMid Value Donors Change on previous reporting period

Donor Type Count of Donors Total IncomeAverage Giving

(Total) Donors Income Donors (%) Income (%)

Active 3,760 $6,224,899 $1,656 283 $567,148 8.1% 10.0%

Passive 519 $828,618 $1,597 -78 -$193,847 -13.1% -19.0%Lapsed 434 $678,157 $1,563 26 $5,994 6.4% 0.9%

Long Lapsed 304 $505,821 $1,664 -20 $28,763 -6.2% 6.0%Grand Total 5,017 $8,237,495 $1,642 211 $408,058 4.4% 5.2%

Recap

Building a Strategy

•Elements for a successful mid-value program

•Current baseline measures

•Quick wins & immediate attention needs

Assess current program

•What's different about you in their eyes?

•For those you are most important to – why?

•What are the priority issues, messages and stories they care about?

•What kinds of cultivation & engagement comms would interest them the most?

Understand & listen to your donors •Narrative arc and messaging – key messages

and storylines most likely to inspire

•Stewardship and cultivation priorities

•Quick wins – tactical changes and investment to expand success

•Engagement cycle/calendar

•Key performance metrics

Roadmap

Treat them as committed and show you understand them

Look at giving behaviours

What choice can you give them? Can you be more

selective and appropriate in response to their past giving?

Show them how much to give, based on their giving, and the

impact they will have

Step up the care.

Really step it up and listen. Tailor your campaigns to them

Research motivations to understand and respond

Maybe you just need to get on with it

Make some calls

Enhance your appeals

Use what you’ve learned

Resources

• Pareto Fundraising Benchmarking:• https://paretofundraising.com/benchmarking/

• Blue Frog Research: • http://queerideas.co.uk/2018/05/the-fundraising-ecosystem.html• http://queerideas.co.uk/2019/01/inside-the-mind-of-the-american-mid-level-donor.html• http://queerideas.co.uk/2018/04/valuable-donors-dont-read-appeals.html

• nfp Synergy Research:• https://nfpsynergy.net/press-release/what-would-encourage-people-give-charity-survey-public-

attitudes

• Rogare • https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/schools/plymouth-business-school/centre-for-sustainable-

philanthropy/rogare

• The Philanthropy Centre• https://www.philanthropy-centre.org/