Media Release 11 June 2010

A look at how disaster organizations responded to donors in the wake of the Haiti earthquake

Global fundraising agencies Pareto Fundraising, Pell & Bales and The Fundraising Company have released the key findings from their most recent charity ‘mystery shopping’ exercise. The study, conducted from the end of January through to the end of April 2010, looked at the performance of several organizations fundraising for the Haiti emergency disaster in 5 different countries, and specifically how they responded following donations made online.

What we did

On the back of the tragedy that struck Haiti in January, 2010 Pareto Fundraising, Pell & Bales and The Fundraising Company decided to look at how charities were responding to donors who made donations in the wake of the disaster.

Here’s what we did:

Made an online gift around two weeks after the Haiti disaster. The gift made was for the equivalent of $25 USD, to 52 organizations in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia and Spain. A full list of those organizations that we ‘mystery shopped’ can be found at the end of this document.

Sat back and watched what happened after the donation was made. We monitored the organizations subsequent efforts for the next two months (up till the end of April).

Analyzed the results, based on five key criteria:

1. Initial contact experience. What was the experience like as a donor making the donation? Did the charity actually take our money?

2. Response time. Did we hear back from the charity the same day the gift was made online?

3. Value of the ‘thank you’. Was it personal? Were we actually thanked ’? Was a story shared? Were we provided with links to up to date information?

4. How proactive the organization was. Was information shared about how our gift would make a difference? Was regular/monthly giving promoted initially and throughout the period?

5. The follow up. Was there ongoing feedback and updates? Were we asked for subsequent donations, and if so were we asked to consider a regular/monthly gift?

What we found

Overall, the initial response to our gifts was very good. Most organizations responded to our donation immediately and were genuinely thankful for the donation made. However there were a few organizations that never actually took our money despite the fact that we gave them our credit card details. It was also supprising to see the variation in response from some of the International NGO’s who fundrasise in more then one country.

Whilst the ongoing frequency of communications was regular, and the feedback detailed, the element most often missing was the link to individual stories and how our donation was having a direct impact. Most of the feedback was operationally focused. There were however one or two really great examples of charities using some new techniques to engage with and provide upto date first hand information on the situation on the ground in Haiti.

We were asked for another financial contribution several times by some organizations in the subsequent two months, although the huge area of opportunity moving forward definitely lies within regular/monthly giving. Very few asked us to consider changing the way we support and commence an ongoing, monthly gift and out of 52 separate organizations we were only called by 5 to convert our cash support into a long-term monthly gift

Below are some of the key insights. It is worth noting that the results were analyzed up until the end of April, and therefore some organizations may have subsequently engaged in the follow up activity referred to below from May onwards.

83% of charities responded to our donation the same day (with an email confirmation). In the US, Canada and Australia the response came on the same day in 100% of occasions. In the UK 85% of the time, whereas only 30% of Spanish charities responded the same day of the gift. However it is worth noting that 4 of the 10 charities in Spain did not actually process our credit card donation, at all.

Of all charities that processed our donation (92%), all but three said the words ‘thank you’ within the email received after making the gift. However 10 organizations did not

personalize the thank you email (I.e. it did not reference our name personally in the salutation or the body of the email).

Only 29% of charities initially promoted regular/monthly giving. The highest of the countries was the US where 55% of charities mystery shopped asked for an ongoing commitment, the lowest in Australia where none of the organizations pushed this type of gift.

In the follow up activity, after our first gift, 21% of organizations used vehicles other than email to communicate with us. Of the 52 charities we surveyed, only 2 (both in the UK) used a combination of email, mail and telephone to keep in touch and communicate with us. 31% of charities across the countries did not reach out to us at all after the initial thank you process.

What we’d recommend Below we’ve provided some recommendations for organizations responding to disasters, related to both the initial period after a disaster, and in the weeks and months following. Initial Contact

• Charities need to ensure that initial donations receive a speedy response either by auto response or within a short space of time (response in hours, not days).

• Initial responses should be personalized and should contain the words ’thank you’. • When landing on a charities website, the disaster should be prominently displayed, with

its own separate landing page. All email communications should provide a link straight to that landing page (or micro site).

• If the organization is strategically focusing on regular/monthly gifts, the initial response should promote this and keep it singularly focused.

Subsequent Contact

• Subsequent communications need to be relevant and timely, providing useful and important updates and information demonstrating the impact the donor’s money is having on the ground. That means telling real, human stories.

• Real feedback from the field should be provided on a regular basis, in a coherent manner. We should foster opportunities for deeper engagement and understanding of the issues at hand.

• Stand out from the crowd. Some of the best examples from this exercise on how to feedback involved inviting donors to teleconferences and webinars to share stories from the field.

Conversion to Regular or Monthly giving

• Charities should develop and execute a follow up communication plan as part of an integrated strategy to convert onetime cash supporters onto regular/monthly giving.

• All communications should focus on capturing details to make conversion to monthly giving easier e.g. Name, address, phone number and email. Offer opt outs rather than opt in to follow up contact.

• Constant reinforcement in all communications of the importance and need for regular/monthly giving (linked to the need for long term, sustainable support to the people affected).

• Develop integrated channel plan for conversion to monthly giving including email promotion/reinforcement, telephone conversion and mail mop up activity.

• Aim to make direct approach to conversion onto regular/monthly giving within 2 months of first cash gift. Speed is key. We know that 2 months is better than 4 months, and so on.

• Evaluate the impact of developing a specific regular/monthly giving product for the emergency situation (I.e. sign up for 365 days) along with a well thought out plan for future relationship management and donor care.

• Once signed up to a regular/monthly gift, focus on the honeymoon period: the first 30 days after sign up. This is critical to arresting attrition.

Long term Strategy

• Develop a plan for communicating with non-responders to your regular or monthly giving conversion efforts. Consider how to feed these individuals into the ongoing cash program and look at ways to engage with non financial support. Test using as a prospect file for future conversion activity.

• Ensure your organization is well equipped to for the next emergency response. For example, mail and email templates in place, thanking and conversion process agreed.

Release Ends

For more information on how to implement an effective emergency response plan please contact Jonathon Grapsas at jonathon.grapsas@paretofundraising.com, or Karl Holweger at kholweger@pellandbales.co.uk

Charities mystery shopped

UK

ActionAid UK British Red Cross CAFOD Care UK Christian Aid UK IFAW Médecins Sans Frontières UK Merlin Oxfam UK Plan UK Save the Children UK Unicef UK World Vision UK USA American Red Cross AmeriCares Care USA Food for the Poor Mercy Corps Médecins Sans Frontières USA Oxfam USA Save the ChildrenUSA Unicef USA World Food Program World Vision USA Spain ActionAid Spain Cáritas Christian Aid Cruz Roja Médecins Sans Frontières Spain Médicos del Mundo

Oxfam Spain Plan Spain Save the Children Spain Unicef Spain Australia Australian Red Cross Care Australia ChildFund Australia Médecins Sans Frontières Australia Oxfam Australia Plan Australia Save the Children Australia Unicef Australia World Vision Australia Canada Canadian Feed The Children Canadian Red Cross Care Canada cbm Canada Free the Children Médecins Sans Frontières Canada Oxfam Canada Plan Canada Save the Children Canada Unicef Canada World Vision Canada