Cautiously Optimistic…
“Cautiously optimistic” is the catchphrase so many of us in the not for profit world were throwing around the end of 2008, when fear of the impact of a recession first hit as we were planning our 2009 budgets. We all knew that biggest hit would be in major gifts, and had learned from previous economic downturns that some charities would possibly not even feel the effects on other donation streams.
Fast forward to 2009, a third of the way through the year. Charities I’ve spoken to are reporting a decrease in direct mail results from that of the previous year, and for those of us doing telemarketing, those results are down as well. Specifically, the lapsed donor segments seem to be particularly hard hit.
Do we give up on them, to save the cost of mailing or calling? I'd say not yet. Or do we invest a bit more and truly integrate telephone, e-mail and direct mail strategies?
So, e-mail/call, mail/e-mail, call/e-mail, mail/call, call/mail?
Previous tests have found that sending lapsed donors an e-mail (with a story, photos, no ask) prior to a telephone call will help lift results of that telephone call (interestingly the results were not the same for active donors). We also find that sending an e-mail shortly after a direct mail appeal helps drive in some more donations, as well as an e-mail to those who just pledged to a telemarketing campaign. These are easy and affordable solutions for those charities with the ability to send e-mail on their own, or with a service provider who will do it for them as part of their overall fee structure.
But the reality is that most of our donors don't have an e-mail address - so what do we do about those donors for whom we currently have no e-mail address?
We're thinking of sending a postcard, digitally produced so that the image on the face of it reflects what their previous gift helped support (i.e. a country, a program, a sector). But at a time of cost cutting and revenue concerns, this unaccounted-for expense (a cost of about 85 cents a postcard in the mail), untested activity to an ever growing lapsed file may not be possible. So perhaps we'll test to a small segment only at this time. The obvious timing for this would be before a scheduled phone call or before a monthly donor is about to lapse.
Likewise, a call to more recently lapsed mail donors will serve to reactivate some of them but, since this is an unbudgeted activity this year, a solution we may not be able to afford. Or perhaps we can't afford to not try it when, frankly, if they're not reminded to support us again, they may support another charity that does call them.
There are a lot of uncertainties for charities today but I, for one, will continue to remain cautiously optimistic....
Authored by Dusanka Pavlica, Director, Resource Development, Canadian Feed The Children
