The NonProfit Times - January 15, 2008 - (Page 12)

THE WORLD’S BEST FUNDRAISERS YOUNGER THAN 40 Tanner, continued from page 1 donors want to have an impact, they also want to have a choice in where they effect that impact.“The key for us in seeing that drop was just creating more value to our donors in our general fund,” said Tanner.“And, explaining to them, providing more definition of what the general fund truly is and UWPV is making strides in garnering a younger constituency. what they’re getting in return, and what the community’s getting in return when they support that type of funding.” This resulted in a compromise: the creation of specialized funds targeting specific areas of concern in the community, to be managed by the United Way. “We’re almost creating our own in-house designation options,” said Tanner. By targeting new impact areas, she added,“that allows us to go after some larger funders and ask for increased giving knowing that they would have some recognition and some ownership of the program rolling out of United Way.” To market the program, Tanner wanted the message to be positive. “We said,‘Here’s what’s so great about our community fund, and this is the core of what United Way’s about, and this is how you can be a part of it,’” she said. UWPV solicited some of its key leadership, donors who were giving $10,000 or more, to be the champions of that message. “And once we got those people on board with us, they became our advocates and they went out and they would make their asks with this message,” she said. Revenue has remained flat during the last few years, around $7 million, but Tanner said the charity is headed in the right direction. In addition to reducing the number of restricted donations, UWPV is making strides in garnering a younger constituency. “We’re not focused on their financial contribution to us at this time,” Tanner said of the group’s Young Leaders’ Society, which targets those aged 40 and younger.“We’re trying to provide (them with) experiences where they start to feel invested not only with United Way, but with the community.” With so many young people moving out of Springfield, Tanner also would like to see the Young Leaders’ Society facilitate a stronger connection to the community. “Hopefully it helps them put some roots down here so they stay here.” – MARLA E. NOBLES Cowart, continued from page 1 The hospital last year moved from the third-largest health charity to the second-largest health charity in terms of private donations, said Lori O’Brien, senior vice president, national direct marketing.St.Jude has seen public support rise by 17 percent and 9 percent, respectively, during the past two years, The average gift to St. Jude has grown 5 to 6 percent during the past several years. approaching the $500-million mark. “He has done some interesting work with both the donor file and with creative strategy, to identify the donors on file who have the capacity to give larger gifts, but who currently give small gifts,” said O’Brien. “By identifying propensity for giving and also a strong affinity for St. Jude, Brian is zeroing in on donors who don’t naturally self-identify as larger givers,” she said. “We continue to see very positive response rates…and a fairly modest increase in donors we’re bringing in year-to-year,” Cowart said. The average gift to St.Jude has grown 5 to 6 percent during the past several years, he said, attributing some of that to pursuing higher-value lists, but also to some industry-wide evolution. The number of new donors acquired also has grown by 11 percent and 10 percent, respectively, in the past two years. Looking ahead, Cowart expects to “not focus as much on the numbers of new donors,but equally on the value of those donors long-term.“As we move forward, we’ll be looking more to the value of donors, not the response and how many we acquire,” he said. The hospital is “constantly trying to find new ways to bring in new donors,” Cowart said, such as exploring face-to-face fundraising, and viral marketing over the telephone for donors to reach out to friends and family. In an effort to bring in new donor audiences, the organization will reach out to audiences “we may have been under-investing in,” he said, such as the African-American and Hispanic communities. His favorite part of the job? “Knowing what I’m doing makes a difference in the life of someone else.Also, what I love about direct marketing is you can instantly, or fairly instantly, measure the impact of a campaign, and the success of a campaign, and identify opportunities for improvement through numbers.” – MARK HRYWNA DIRECT MAIL SUSAN LOTH Mailing Less And Making More Susan Loth has seen the direct mail program at Disabled American Veterans (DAV) more than double in revenue during the past 16 years. Its database of active donors has grown to more than seven million names, no small feat even for the direct-mail behemoth that is DAV. The head of fundraising at the Cincinnatibased nonprofit, Loth has played a starring role in that growth. During her tenure, the last five as director of fundraising, DAV’s mail program has weathered increased competition, enjoyed drool-worthy response rates in an industry plagued by numbers going in the opposite direction, and maintained a reputation as a leader in the direct-mail industry.And while it’s never been an easy trail, Loth has done her share of blazing. And she has no plans to stop. During the next five years, DAV will expand its fundrais12 JANUARY 15, 2008 ing program to include cause marketing and corporate sponsorships. For other nonprofits, this might seem like an organic move. But for DAV, which since its founding in 1920 has relied solely on direct mail, it’s more along the lines of entering uncharted territory. These days, though, the biggest changes at DAV are in the fundraising costs. From 2005 to 2006, DAV reduced costs by almost 4 percent, a significant drop, said Loth, since it all came from the direct mail program.The trend continued this year, she added. “We’ve been mailing 55 million to 60 million pieces (of mail) a year, and what we’ve been doing is trying to get the quantity down, trying to mail smarter,”said Loth.“Who should we be mailing and what is the strategy? Get in there and slice and dice our data a little bit and figure out where are we mailing and are we dropping off.” The plan is working. According to Loth, during 2004 the group mailed nearly 64 million pieces of mail and grossed $104 million. Two years later, the group mailed 4 million fewer mail pieces, and grossed around $108.1 million.“We’re systematically working to produce the largest return while mailing smarter,” she said. When Loth assumed the role of director of fundraising in January 2002, the bar had already been set – and it was at nose-bleed level. “Most certainly” it was daunting, Loth said of filling the enormous shoes left behind THE NONPROFIT TIMES by legendary former director of fundraising Max Hart. Often dubbed “The $1.7-Billion Man,” Hart had set the gold standard not only at DAV, but in the nonprofit direct-mail space. His success with DAV’s program earned Hart a place in the Direct Marketing Association’s Hall of Fame, which prior to Hart had only included for-profit direct marketers. Looking forward, Loth said she’d like to get response rates up and possibly start making money again on acquisition, something the organization hasn’t been able to do for decades.These days acquisition response hovers around 3 percent, still within the industry average of between 2 and 4 percent. Loth said she’d also like to see fewer dollars spent on fundraising and more dollars going to programs and services.“We’ve made a lot of investments in technology, and even with things as little as paper (stock), we’ve lightened that. And when it comes to the postage rate, we always try to make sure that we’re mailing the appropriate audience so that we’re not throwing our dollars away,” she said. Loth attributes the success of DAV’s mail program to testing. “The wonderful thing about direct mail is that it’s very scientific, you can get answers to your tests,” she said. “We try to be pragmatic, and we test the heck out of everything. We don’t just change our program;we might tweak it along the way,but we don’t automatically just throw in a new piece of copy or anything.” – MARLA E. NOBLES www.nptimes.com http://www.nptimes.com

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The NonProfit Times - January 15, 2008

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