I signed up as a regular donor to 25 charities
Glyn Thomas
Email: glyn@glyn-thomas.co.uk
Twitter: @glynmthomas
Why?
1. I signed up to 100 organisations' email lists...
2. Institute of Fundraising Convention 2016
"You can teach a fundraiser how to do digital, but you can't teach digital staff how to do fundraising."
3. Commission on the Donor Experience
Fundraising charities should make their top priority:
the interests, convenience and positive experiences of their supporters
Fundraisers must be judged by longer-term, more donor-friendly criteria rather than just by income raised now.
retention
non-financial engagement
The rules
- Picked a range of organisations - large and small
- Just over half also campaign
- Opted in to receiving emails and post
- Opted out of phone and SMS
- Remained a regular donor for 12 months and then cancelled
What happened?
POST
97 pieces of mail
Just under 1 per quarter per charity
69 were fundraising appeals
71% of all mailings were donation asks
In the first 6 months:
57 items of post
30 donation asks
(53%)
In the second 6 months:
40 items of post
39 donation asks
(98%)
2 charities sent
0 emails
3 charities sent
a welcome email -
then nothing
4 charities sent
no emails for 3 months.
Now they are sending a steady stream of emails.
1 charity sent 1 email every 2 months
9 charities sent an email once a month (newsletter)
4 charities sent an email twice a month
2 charities sent an email each week
Total emails received
272
Mean average - 0.9 emails per organisation per month
Charities that made a connection between emails
1
Charities that suggested other ways to get involved (non-financial)
6
How many campaign asks in those 272 emails?
37
How many surveys in those 272 emails?
10
How many financial asks in those 272 emails?
More than one in three emails to a brand new regular donor
91
How many financial asks in those 97 pieces of post?
69
160 donation asks in 12 months
Mean average = 6.4 per charity
Longer-term approach?
Retention?
Non-financial asks?
What happened when I cancelled?
23 organisations did not acknowledge the cancellation at all
1 sent a letter
"Thank you so much for all of your support, we understand that circumstances change and it is not always possible to contribute on a regular basis."
1 sent an email
1 stopped emailing as soon as I cancelled
1 sent this a month later...
I know you've supported [...] in the past, thank you. But we need your help again – our fight to stop [...] is far from over. Set up a monthly donation and help fund [...]
Things to think about
- More non-financial asks - surveys, quizzes, polls, campaign actions
- Build a narrative with emails - make connections between emails
- Coordinate post and email - multiple touchpoints
- Thank supporters more
Fundraisers are clearly still working to short-term targets
Thanks for listening!
glyn@glyn-thomas.co.uk