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Published byRhoda Allen Modified over 9 years ago
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Mark Etling Donor Development Manager Missionary Association of Mary Immaculate Belleville, Illinois
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The “double whammy” in fundraising today: -Shrinking active donor files -Shrinking prospecting budgets
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The temptation: drastically reduce or cut prospecting for short-term growth in net revenue: -Looks good after Year 1 -Ends up bad in Years 2, 3, etc.
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Two bottom lines - Dollars and Donors - Net revenue : money that goes year by year to the Province, Motherhouse. - Donor file: an extremely valuable asset; worth millions of dollars over time.
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How much prospecting is enough? - Short-term loss vs. long-term gain
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Method 1: Prospecting to a budgeted dollar amount Budgeted loss: $200,000 Cost per new name: $20 New names added to file: 10,000
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The problem with Method 1: Not enough new names Active donors, 7/1/2015: 80,000 Multi-year donor retention: 70% Active donors, 6/30/16: 56,000 Active donors, new names included: 66,000 Active file shrinkage: 17.5%
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Method 2: Prospecting to a budgeted donor file size Active donors, 7/1/15: 80,000 Multi-year donor retention: 70% Active donors, 6/30/16: 56,000 New donors needed for 0% growth: 24,000 Prospecting loss @ $20/new name: $480,000
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How do you recover the first-year loss? In long-term donor value: 5,000 new donors @ $100 LTV = $500,000 24,000 new donors @ $75 LTV = $1,800,000
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What about cost to mail ? Assume: 12 mailings per year @.60 per mailing over 5 years. Cost to mail = $36 per donor. 5,000 new donors @ $36 per donor = $180,000 $500,000 revenue - $180,000 = $320,000 net. 24,000 new donors @ $36 per donor = $864,000 $1,800,000 - $864,000 = $936,000 net. Even when cost to mail is factored in, you still come out ahead.
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Where to begin: - Establish a goal: how many active donors do you want at the end of the fiscal year? - How many new names do you need to reach your goal? Remember to factor in donor attrition. - Build your mail plan to meet your goal.
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And of course: - Don’t forget about donor reactivation.
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Some suggestions to improve new name prospecting
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#1. Co-ops – to expand the universe of potential new donors. # 2. Don’t suppress your lapsed names forever in the merge-purge.
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#3. Make your donors available for exchange. -Name protection is a myth – your donors are giving to other organizations.
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#4. Mail to “super-dupes” – donors who are lapsed to your file, but are giving to two or more other organizations.
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What’s working for you?
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Thank you!
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