Tag Archive for: creative marketing for fundraisers

Variable Data Printing for Fundraising

Variable Data can help you in your efforts for fundraising this year. As a term used in printing or direct mail marketing, Variable Data Printing (VDP) allows you to send personalized imagery, content, or graphics. Today I am going to show you how variable data printing delivers more response for your next appeal.

What is Variable Data Printing for Fundraising?

Adding a person’s name, full-color image and more database information can increase the response rate by up to 500% vs not doing any of these things.

40% Of Marketing Campaigns Success is in the data

Connecting Donors Emotionally

Imagine you want to connect with your donors by including images from their time at their alma mater, but you have four decades of classes to cover. Variable Data Printing makes this possible by marketing to your donors one to one. Even though 20 versions of class representation may seem overwhelming, we help simplify the process so you don’t have to change anything about the way you send your data. 

Check out this class year segmentation case study to learn how Dominican University of California increased dollars raised by 39%.

Why is Data so Important on Your Next Appeal?

You have loads of data that you collect year after year from your donors. Starting with Grandparents to alumni to parents; you have their giving history, the year of their graduation, and their interests while at your institution. 

Personalizing a piece with imagery of the sport they played, or organizations they were in, sparks emotion when used on an outer envelope or on a self-mailer. Creating that emotion drives more opportunities for you to make that one-to-one connection with the donor.  

Middlesex Spring Appeal

Another way to make a connection is through showcasing donor history.  The “Ugly Betty” invoice-like direct mail piece is a great example. This mail design gets really personal when they see their financial commitments, or lack thereof.

Where Can You Use Variable Data Printing?

VDP works very well with most direct mail formats that are easily customized.

  • Postcards
  • Envelopes
  • Folded Self-Mailers
  • Brochures

These popular formats can engage donors when they use VDP, as noted before, to capture attention and emit emotion.

Potentially, nearly every component of a direct mail piece receives personalization, like letters, headlines and subheads, body copy, inserts, images, graphic charts, and donor history. Anywhere there is a data point that sets one donor apart from another, there’s an opportunity to use a variable element.

Success with Variable Data

Earlier in this post, we shared that Dominican University of California achieved an increase of 39% of dollars raised with their Decades Appeal using variable data.  

So, how did they do it? They provided us with their different cohort donors, the decade in which they attended, and information that related to their donor’s time at the school. 

With these data points, we designed a letter with an outer envelope that focused on imagery from their “decade”. We personalized the letter by their cohort, implementing paragraphs that spoke directly to each alumni’s decade.Dominican University Data Sample

The Dominican University of California saw a 4.78% open rate and achieved an 8% increase in the number of donors.

Turning Data into Action 

Variable Data Printing is not new. But it may be new to you. And at BCG Connect, we work with your data and recommend ways in which you can use VDP. 

In the long run, our creative team designs appeals that create a connection between you and your donor.

Did your last appeal deliver on your goals? Have you tried VDP beyond personalization?  

If you have the data, we have the strategy, programming and support to allow Variable Data Printing to optimize your next direct mail appeal.

Want to see more?

So, are you looking for ideas for your next appeal? Ask us for a sample, and you’ll get it directly to your inbox.

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3 Examples of High-Impact Spring Appeals

Let’s talk about your Spring Appeal. Direct mail is a valuable tool for any organization trying to communicate their case for support. The challenge is, how do you use this tool to engage your constituents and inspire them to take action?

Here are 3 tips to help your spring appeal make an impact:

Use current photos to show impact

Using powerful images is a widely understood concept for appeals.1 Showing the impact of how gifts have helped current students, allowed for extra safety measures, or provided support to those in need during the pandemic will resonate with current and prospective donors.

See how the California College of the Arts used this approach: CCA Appeal

Make sure it is clear what you would like donors to do

Like a successful email campaign, an effective appeal involves a clear CTA and message. If donors are unsure what your goal is, it will be less interesting for them to take action. 

See how this appeal illustrates a clear CTA: Friends Central School Appeal

Don’t rely too heavily on copy 

Crafting effective messaging is important and there can often be a lot that you want to say to your audience. However, that message could get lost in translation if there is too much copy drowning it out.2 Finding the balance between images, copy, and a format that appeases both is the goal.

See how we helped York College accomplish this balance: York College Appeal 

What are you trying in your current programs? Connect with us today and let us know.

Sources: 

1 = SG Engage

2 = Huffington Post

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3 Ways to use direct mail for virtual events

Most fundraising professionals have reaped the benefits of events for years. Whether it be the education, healthcare, or nonprofit space, the value of visibility and interpersonal interaction at events is undeniable.

Thanks to COVID-19, many organizations are struggling1 from both a donor acquisition and revenue perspective due to the loss of in-person events. While some events have been cancelled or postponed, still more have switched to a virtual format instead.

It might seem counter-intuitive to state that direct mail pairs well with a virtual event. How could a perceived “basic” tactic like direct mail compliment a highly sophisticated online gathering?

Here are three ways to use direct mail for virtual events:

  • Use direct mail to send special offers to attendees

Events are the perfect time to engage or re-engage donors with a little extra TLC.

While donors are at home looking forward to their daily walk to the mailbox, it makes sense to utilize direct mail in the wake of a virtual event. Sending a pre-event checklist that donors can hang in their home office or a special promo code2 postcard are some simple and budget-friendly options.

  • Use direct mail as an extra touch point

One of the current weak spots of a virtual events is, quite simply, the competition. While attending a virtual event has many pro’s, the biggest con in this climate is over-saturation.

Using direct mail as an additional touch point can help break up some of the virtual clutter and overall fatigue.3  Consider sending a personalized direct mail invite or save the date, just like you would an in-person event (example here).

  • Use direct mail for appointment setting

Appointment setting is a hugely popular practice of sending an offer to attendees before the event in attempts to connect with them at the show. Usually there is some kind of special offer being teased at the booth or an opportunity to speak to an expert in person.

Direct mail can still be used for virtual event appointment setting. Provide attendees the opportunity to speak with you in a one-on-one chat room. You can also send them a special code to enter your booth prize drawing.4

In short, events may be more complicated for the foreseeable future, but that does not mean they have to be overly difficult. Virtual events exclude more traditional logistical challenges and costs, such as paying for airfare and hotels. Adding the ease and proven track record of direct mail to your event strategy is sure to prove successful.

If you like this post, check out our guest blog spot with the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce on how direct mail can cut through the virtual noise in 2020.

Sources:

1 = Harvard Business Review

2 = Impact

3= 4 Ways to Use Direct Mail in the Current Climate

4 = Event Marketer

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3 Focus Areas for Creating Engaging Annual Reports

BCG Connect is a steadfast supporter and advocate of Friends of the Children-Boston (Friends-Boston), a nonprofit organization dedicated to breaking the cycle of generational poverty through salaried, professional mentoring. To achieve this, Friends-Boston pro-actively identifies kindergartners who possess untapped limitless potential but face the most significant barriers to future success. They then relentlessly dedicate their resources to them for the child’s entire school aged years – kindergarten through graduation, no matter what. That’s 12+ years!

One of BCG’s most recent collaborations with Friends of the Children was their 2019 Milestone Report. The challenge was to create an inviting and informative report that everyone wanted to read. It was important to understand that these readers were already supporters, so the message had to be tailored to them. Friends of the Children also stressed their desire for this report to have a contemporary feel, complete with story-like infographics and interesting data visualization.

Some of the areas highlighted to achieve this can be applied universally.

Here are 3 focus areas for engaging annual reports:

  • Understand the organization’s mission

An organization’s mission statement is its lifeblood, and they must find meaningful ways for donors to contribute to that mission. It is essential to understand, highlight, and appreciate this in order to convey its message successfully.

  • Mention successes and failures

It’s important to highlight the organization’s progress, which includes the good, the bad, and everything in between. Executive Director of Friends of the Children, Yi-Chin Chen beautifully expresses this as the ability to “Fail Louder” in future endeavors.

  • Communicate data visually

Data is one of the most compelling engagement tools in fundraising, as donors want to know how their gift has impacted an organization. It’s often difficult to translate these stats into an eye-catching format. Stick to simple numbers, appropriate chart types, and consistent formatting.

One recipient of the 2019 Annual Report shared:

“I just received the 2019 milestone report in the mail – congratulations on a really beautiful publication. I immediately wanted to read it and found it really engaging and inspiring. I love how it’s on-brand, authentic, compelling, and provides easy ways to see how anyone in the community might engage.”

-Anonymous recipient

You can view the Friends of the Children 2019 Annual Report here.

For more information on how BCG Connect can create similar projects for you, contact us today.

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Exceed Your Goals with a Strong Fall Giving Plan

The air is getting crisp outside. The leaves are getting crunchier. School bus lights flash longer waiting for students to scurry aboard. This could only mean one thing – fall is here. These signs of fall should ignite the fundraiser in you to spark your donors to give. How should you do that? Well first, it starts with a strong strategic annual giving plan.

By now, most fundraisers have a strategic annual giving plan, but there is always time to make adjustments and improvements.

Strengthen your annual giving plan by asking yourself these questions:

  • How does this year’s annual giving plan differ from our plan last year? Regardless of if you had the best year yet, or a year that needs improvement, you should always try to do something a little different.
    • Yes, if you had the best year to date, continue doing what you’re doing. However, what’s next? How can you keep that stamina up? It’s all about thinking ahead and continuing to have that donor-mindset at the forefront of your initiatives.
    • If you had a year that needs major improvement, try something completely new – do some testing and analysis and determine what had the best results. For example, maybe it was a self-mailer over an 8.5×11″ letter, a Facebook ad over a LinkedIn ad, a phone call over an email. Whatever it may be, it’s important to analyze what your donors respond to. Keep in mind that it can take multiple touchpoints before a donor takes action. Ensure that you are communicating with them on all channels to reach them where they are.
  • Did we draft a schedule for initiatives this year? Laying out what the initiative is, who will be targeted, what the goal is, and the timeframe of execution is critical to your team’s success. It not only confirms that everyone is on the same page, but it also helps you stay on track with initiatives. Sometimes, things change. Having a schedule helps you see what adjustments might need to be made if something arises. This central resources can allow your team to be concise, consistent, and focused.
  • How did we use personalization in appeals? Donors expect a personal touch now more than ever. How did you use variable data to personalize the ask? How was the data segmented to properly target the right people with the right message? Instead of sending everyone the same message with the same imagery, try to show donors that you know what’s important to them. If the donor connects with the institution on a personal level, they will be more inclined to donate because they start building an affinity to it.

For more than two decades, we have been successful in partnering with fundraising organizations to create a personalized, custom approach to their marketing and fundraising initiatives, targeting the right people with an effective message, to reach their prospective and current donors. Let us help you!

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Ideas for retaining donors through effective stewardship

Retaining donors is one of the most difficult initiatives for a fundraiser to do. With more organizations asking people to support their cause or mission, there has never been a more important time to optimize donor retention strategies. One strategy that helps with donor retention is stewardship.

Instilled in people from such a young age is the concept of saying, “Thank you.” How many times have you, or someone you know, given a child something and the adult with them says, “What do you say?” and they look at you and say, “Thank you!” Probably countless times! Being a fundraising professional should encourage you to use this phrase now more than ever. Simply thanking donors and showing the impact of their donation can go an extremely long way.

Stewardship is a vital part of an annual giving plan as it helps you retain donors – if it’s not a significant piece of your plan now, this is something that you should take into deep consideration for the future.

Here are 5 stewardship tips to help retain donors:

  1. SIMPLY SAY, “THANK YOU.” A thank you can go a long way. It makes people feel that they are appreciated and when they feel appreciated, they will start to build a loyalty and sense of pride to your organization. Saying, “Thank you,” through all different platforms is a great way to show your donors how much you appreciate them.
  2. SHOW THE DONOR HIS/HER IMPACT. Infographics are a great visual tool to show donors how they made an impact. By associating the contribution – whether it be a dollar amount, time, or other resource – to the exact area(s) it impacted, people are able to say, “I helped make that happen!” Without your donors, it is impossible to reach your goals. So, when they donate, show them what they did and how they helped make the organization better.
  3. PERSONALIZE THE THANK YOU. Personalization helps build a bond between you and the donor. It makes them feel that they are special and unique. Yes, most occasions and initiatives call for individuals to receive the same designed piece. However, that doesn’t mean you aren’t able to personalize or segment it. Data segmentation and personalization enable you to target your donor or donor segments. For instance, you can have different variations of the stewardship piece, with personalization, if you segment donors by areas they contributed to.
  4. DON’T JUST WAIT UNTIL YOUR FYE. Have you ever thought about incorporating a stewardship campaign into your annual direct marketing plan? You might want to consider how many times per year you are currently thanking donors and how many times you could be thanking donors. Is it once a year? Twice a year? After each time they donate? You can never thank donors too much. Wondering some ways that you can thank your donors? Some clients thank their donors through designed postcards, letters, self-mailers, or other creative direct mail pieces. Connect with us to view samples.
  5. IF YOU ASK THROUGH A CHANNEL, THANK THROUGH THAT CHANNEL. There are many different channels nowadays where donors can be reached. If you ask through a particular channel, you should thank through that channel. For example, if you are sending your donors asks through direct mail, and they expect to hear from you through direct mail, then you should send a thank you through direct mail.

Interested in seeing samples of stewardship pieces?

Request Samples

To sum it all up, stewardship is critical to success. You did so much work identifying and acquiring your donors, you can’t forget one of the most important parts – retaining your donors. By thanking your donors, you’re one step closer to retaining them. They’ll feel like they made an actual impact as they start to build or continue to build an affinity to your organization.

BCG Connect helps clients to identify, acquire, AND retain donors through effective annual direct marketing plans. If you need help implementing stewardship pieces into your plan, or would like to talk about different direct marketing ideas for your organziation to effectively identify, acquire, and retain your donors, connect with us to learn more!

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The Truth about Ugly Betty

To most of the world, “Ugly Betty” was the name of an ABC original TV series starring America Ferrera. However, in the world of fundraising professionals, an ugly betty is an effective way to renew gifts from prior donors using a very direct, invoice-style approach. Fundraising appeals can vary in style – from creative self-mailers and postcards, to standard letters and invoice-style appeals – and created for various reasons.

The Common Misconception of an Ugly Betty

The Ugly Betty is not ugly! An ugly betty is simply an invoice-style appeal. Although it may not include many photos, there are plenty of creative elements to incorporate.

What’s so effective about an ugly betty? When looking at your mail and you see the piece of mail that looks like it may be an invoice or some sort of bill, it may be one of the first pieces that you open or set aside. It is instinct to pull out the “more important” looking pieces to make sure that you don’t miss any official documents.

You might ask, “Why wouldn’t every appeal be an invoice style, then?” If every appeal were an invoice style, you would reduce the effectiveness. Many organizations send ugly betties towards the end of their fiscal year to capture those prior donors that haven’t given yet.

Here are 3 components of an ugly betty to take into consideration:

  • Creative

An ugly betty might have lived up to the name, but these invoice-style appeals definitely don’t need to be ugly. There may not be many photos on the appeal, but there are different creative elements helping with the effectiveness of the piece. The simplicity of an invoice-style appeal emphasizes prior giving, lack of giving this fiscal year, and has a strong call-to-action of donating.

  • Envelope

How do you know when you get a bill in the mail? There is usually a special type of envelope. Whether it’s a window envelope, or has messaging on the envelope, it’s important to entice your donors.

  • Data Segmentation

Organizations often have an immense amount of data. It’s important that you use it! When data and direct mail align, there are endless possibilities. Data is a critical component to an effective ugly betty. It helps with showcasing the donor’s history and knows the level ask to do. For example, a chart showing Donor A gave $25 in 2015, 2016, 2017, but has yet to give in 2018. It would be appropriate to include an ask that has $25 as an option as opposed to $1,000.

Interested in seeing samples of creative invoice-style appeals?

BCG Connect works with fundraising professionals to implement creative direct marketing solutions into their annual giving campaigns. By sharing new marketing and fundraising information, BCG Connect helps clients identify, acquire and retain their donors.

 

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8 Trends to Spring Your Annual Fund Marketing Forward

There’s something intricate about annual fund marketing – especially if you want to go beyond the basics of annual giving and create actionable strategies that will help you expand your program for long-term success.

It’s our goal to leverage our industry knowledge when working with clients to provide them with optimal marketing solutions for their fundraising program.

With spring around the corner, it’s time to start comprehensively assessing your annual giving program and determining how to take your program to the next level – how do you relate to these 8 trends?

  1. Implement a Strong Multi-Year and Annual Plan. Developing and maintaining a strong annual fund plan provides the opportunity to comprehensively assess your annual giving program, articulate short and long term objectives, and align all objectives with the plan appropriately. This advanced planning offers the opportunity to revisit initiatives regularly and stay up to speed with expectations. As a key step to long term success, effective annual fund planning is built from strategic development, partnerships, and long-term connections with donors.
  2. Stewardship, Stewardship, Stewardship. Annual giving professionals always need to keep at the front of their minds that stewardship is a key element of annual giving. Great stewardship is crucial to high retention and should be encouraged at all levels of the donor pyramid, including thank you notes all the way to donor impact stories in different types of publications.
  3. Have You Implemented #SocialMedia Into Your Campaign? If you haven’t increased your social media presence yet, now is the time to do so. Having a campaign that shows consistent branding, from the direct marketing all the way to social media, increases the engagement of the potential donors. Donors tend to feel more involved and having numerous touchpoints is important to donor relations.
  4. Mobile is King. At the CASE D1 conference, it was stated that 14% of all online donations are made by a mobile device. It is vital that your donation page, along with any corresponding emails, attachments, or graphics on social media, are mobile enabled. Similar to the importance of mobile with the annual fund, convenience is a significant factor in getting donations through the door.
  5. Big Data and Personalized Analytics. Big data and predictive analytics are evolving annual fund giving. By analyzing donor engagement and giving over their time with the organization/institution, engagement with them improves significantly. When you know about what they are passionate about in association with the organization/institution, you can tailor a personalized approach to them that could increase the chances of a donation.
  6. Storytelling is Not Just for Children. Tapping into your donor’s emotions can engage them, connect with them, really show them exactly what you want them to see and how you want them to feel. By providing better stories, you can raise more money because people are more dedicated and proud to support the fund. Storytelling can be incorporated in appeals, giving days, challenges, stewardship, among others. Take a step back and really tell the donors why their donation is impactful, who it has helped, and why they truly make a difference no matter the amount they donated.
  7. “What Was My Impact?” – Respond to Your Donors. It’s important donors know that their donation goes to a larger cause – that it is truly impacting something. Impact reports, case studies, stories, statistics are all vital elements to provide to your potential donors to show how exactly their donation helped. Did it help fund a new building? Did it provide more resources to the organization/institution? Tell them! They want to know their impact and by providing tangible information of what their donation helped, they will be more inclined to donate again.
  8. Change is Constant. Successful annual giving programs effectively adopt the changes that will work, while still maximizing the old tools that continue to work. The saying typically goes, “Out with the old, in with the new.” However, it is rather a delicate balance between using the old with the new. Learning how to adapt the new with the old can improve the likeliness of a successful annual giving program. For example, doing a direct mail piece highlighting a giving day can be complemented with a social media campaign incorporating the branding of the Giving Day.

These are just a few of the annual fund trends that should be on the forefront of your mind when developing your annual fund program. Do you need any help incorporating any of them into your campaign? We’d love to connect with you to share how we can help strengthen your campaign!

P.S. Attending the CASE District II conference in Baltimore? Let us know if you will be attending – we would love the opportunity to connect with you there!

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5 Fundraising Appeal Letter Hacks

Add some muscle to your next appeal letter to help it stand out in a crowded mailbox.

During the holiday season, everything that comes into your mailbox, from bills to credit card offers, are adorned in festive colors and glitter. So, it helps to add something special to an appeal letter to ensure that it will stand out from the colorful crowd.

Have your next appeal letter move into the spotlight. Follow these 5 fundraising appeal hacks:

1. Include images in your appeal letter:

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Adding photos to the body of the letter helps to give a face to the story, to the need, and to the reason a donor is giving. Photos also help engage a reader in the letter by helping them make a personal connection to it.

2. Add a colorful buck slip alongside your appeal letter:

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This mailing insert, approximately the size of a dollar bill (which is how it gets its name), provides room for additional graphics, images, and appeal information that can help enumerate the impact of a donation.

3. Use color and unique typography in the body of your appeal letter:

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By adding color and typographical emphasis, the reader can easily find the most important parts of your appeal letter. This also helps to break apart larger blocks of text to be easier to read and thus keeps their attention longer.

4. Add artwork or a tagline to the outer envelope:

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The envelope is an important part of the overall appeal package, but is so often overlooked (both during the design process and once it’s in the mailbox). The design of it helps to encourage the donor to open it.

5. Personalize the letter by including the following:

  • The recipient’s last gift amount: this helps to remind the donor of how much they previously gave and also gives them a point of reference for another gift.
  • A targeted ask amount: by personalizing the appeal letter with a specific ask for each letter, rather than a general ask, this helps to give the donor an understanding of how they can specifically help.
  • The recipient’s class year: by referencing a specific year, you help remind them of their experiences at the school and the reasons for giving back.
  • Add a P.S. line that repeats the call to action: use this important part of the letter to summarize the entire message – the ask, deadline, and call to action – so that when the reader’s eyes go to the bottom of the page, they have all the information.

What techniques have you used? Connect with us and let us know.

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School Challenges Unite Alumni & Friends

 School Challenges are one of the best ways to boost alumni participation quickly.

Regis College ran a successful school challenge after receiving a generous pledge to the annual fund of $25,000. A Regis couple asked their fellow alumni and friends to rise to the school challenge and make 600 gifts to Regis by the end of the calendar year. Long story short, they surpassed their goal with 799 donations.

The results showed that the challenge was a great way to:

  • Secure participation rates early on in the fiscal year
  • Get never-donors to make their first donation
  • Increase gift amounts from current donors
  • Show the Regis community that their peers (alumni, faculty, staff, and parents) are actively giving back.

Find out how Regis made it all happen here.

Regis College is a great example of executing a successful school challenge. To reach success, it’s important to remember that you must have ample preparation in your outreach and marketing materials in order to generate the best results.

If you’re interested in learning how BCG Connect can help you with your school challenge to boost alumni participation quickly, connect with us! We have partnered with a number of clients to improve their school challenge direct marketing materials to optimize donor engagement

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