Gazing Into The Crystal Ball: Individual Giving in 2009

1. Gazing Into The Crystal Ball: Individual Giving in 2009

2. Helping non profits meet and exceed their fundraising goals Past is Prologue…or is it? • The American people are the same generous souls they were in the past 40 years, when total giving increased every year but one... • But fundraising is different today. What approaches and messages will work when the economy is contracting and multi-media is expanding?

3. Helping non profits meet and exceed their fundraising goals Good News Figures According to Giving USA 2008: • Charitable giving exceeded $300 billion in 2007 for the first time in history • Giving rose by 3.9 percent in 2007 • Boomers are the fastest growing donor segment – and they are getting increasingly wired

4. Helping non profits meet and exceed their fundraising goals Good News Figures According to a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll: • 3 of 4 dollars donated in 2007 came from individuals; the rest were from corporations, foundations and charitable bequests • 90% of people 65 and older donated money to a charity in the past year • 8 in 10 Americans donated money or volunteered time to a charity in the past year

5. Helping non profits meet and exceed their fundraising goals Good News Figures • Non-Profit Times says 8 out of 10 appeals are opened and looked at; direct mail still is the best-read medium • Vertis’ Customer Focus Poll, Non-Profit: 59% who give use direct mail for philanthropy 62% say the most important factor is the personalized nature of appeals; 59% say timing; special offer 32%; urgency 30%

6. Helping non profits meet and exceed their fundraising goals Bad News Figures According to the USA TODAY/Gallup Poll: • 66% of Americans expected to donate the same or more in 2008 as they did the previous year, but 72% said their finances would affect their philanthropy. • U.S. companies donated an average of 0.8% of their pretax profits in 2007, down from 1.4% in 2004.

7. Helping non profits meet and exceed their fundraising goals Bad News Figures • The top 8% of households based on income and wealth, which is responsible for more than 50 percent of charitable giving, have been most affected by the current economic crisis. • Only 6% of all households gave online in 2007, according to Giving USA

8. Helping non profits meet and exceed their fundraising goals Good News/Bad News Figures In a survey conducted by the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University: • Fundraisers experienced more success with direct mail in the first half of 2008 than they predicted in December 2007. • All other fundraising techniques met with less success than predicted.

9. Helping non profits meet and exceed their fundraising goals Good News/Bad News Figures According to a survey of nonprofits conducted by the DMA’s Nonprofit Federation in late 2008: • 40% received smaller gifts from fewer donors • 33% received larger gifts from fewer donors • 14% received smaller gifts from more donors • 8% received larger gifts from more donors • 61% were doing the same as or better than ‘07

10. Helping non profits meet and exceed their fundraising goals Forecast: Partly Cloudy According to Boston College's Center on Wealth and Philanthropy: • Because high-net worth donors tend to plan their contributions a year ahead, the full impact to giving levels may not be felt until later • Charitable giving levels may not be affected as much or for as long as feared • During the dot.com bust, giving increased by 1%. • One year after the 1987 crash, giving was up 7.1%.

11. Helping non profits meet and exceed their fundraising goals Forecast: Potentially Stormy • The Perfect “F” Storm: food prices, fuel price volatility, financial market turmoil, falling employment figures • If incomes decline significantly, the impact on charitable donations is likely to be much greater this year.

12. Helping non profits meet and exceed their fundraising goals Forecast: Partly Cloudy • Direct mail is predicted to remain the most-used medium for individual donations over the next 10 years… • But 37% of prospects will turn to your website before making a decision to give by mail

13. Helping non profits meet and exceed their fundraising goals Focus On: Improving the Long- Term Value of Your Donors • Recognize the relationship and make a big deal about it: Acknowledge the contribution with a thank you note. Send a new donor welcome kit. • Engage using meaningful content delivered through multi-channel efforts — newsletters, regular updates, surveys, tax statements, invitations.

14. Helping non profits meet and exceed their fundraising goals Focus On: Improving the Long- Term Value of Your Donors • New and easy ways of giving should be introduced: pledge opportunities, honor/memorial, monthly, and planned giving options. • Earn trust with operational openness; document your good stewardship.

15. Helping non profits meet and exceed their fundraising goals Focus On: Improving the Long- Term Value of Your Donors • Widen the scope of your existing programs or add new ones — a static organization loses support of donors over time. • Ask again within 6 months of the first gift, suggesting reasonable upgrades. Analyze results. • Listen to donors. Regularly solicit feedback about what they want.

16. Helping non profits meet and exceed their fundraising goals Donor Cultivation Summary • Recognize the relationship • Engage • New ways of giving • Earn their trust • Widen the scope of your programs or add new ones • Ask again within 6 months and analyze results • Listen to them

17. Helping non profits meet and exceed their fundraising goals Focus on: Turning Prospects into Donors • Mission clarity: What are your goals? • Organizational effectiveness: how efficient are you in fulfilling your mission? • Testimonials and endorsements: use a powerful story from someone who has been helped in a tangible way; get endorsements from celebrities whose support lends credibility.

18. Helping non profits meet and exceed their fundraising goals Focus on: Turning Prospects into Donors • Impact made by the gift: specifically, how will you put donations to work over the next 12 months? • Values: clearly demonstrated ideals of your organization will coincide with their own, bolstering the case for support.

19. Helping non profits meet and exceed their fundraising goals Focus on: Turning Prospects into Donors • Accomplishments: what did you achieve with donated funds in the past 6-12 months? • Transparency: openness builds trust; show them the money! • Educate, but don’t forget to ASK. Evaluate your results.

20. Helping non profits meet and exceed their fundraising goals Prospecting Summary • Mission clarity • Organizational effectiveness • Testimonials and endorsements • Impact made by the gift • Values • Accomplishments • Transparency • Educate and evaluate results

21. Helping non profits meet and exceed their fundraising goals Focus On: Content • For older donors: use stories to elicit an emotional response • For Gen X and Gen Y: report results, detail plans and offer involvement options • For Baby Boomers: use both emotional and factual approach • For all audiences, include details on where their donations go • Use pie charts to demonstrate good stewardship

22. Helping non profits meet and exceed their fundraising goals Focus On: Branding • Create a specific landing page for your direct mail recipients that has a “look and feel” consistent with your DM campaign • Be brief! State your mission, invite them in. • Make prominent links to: • Financial information • Videos • Ways to donate • pURLs can be used for personalized asks.

23. Helping non profits meet and exceed their fundraising goals Focus On: Style • Don’t obsess about sentence structure… make it conversational and readable • For direct mail: • Personalize the ask based on donor history • For emotional appeals, longer is okay, but… • Keep paragraphs short – 5 lines or less • Use 11 or 12 point type • Preserve white space with good margins and generous line spacing

24. Helping non profits meet and exceed their fundraising goals Focus On: Style • For your landing page: • Shorter is better – no scrolling required! • Use a readable “screen font” • Offer some new information. A bit more detail and mention it in your mail piece. • Graphically resonant • Big “donate now” button

25. Helping non profits meet and exceed their fundraising goals Focus On: Making Your Case To make a solid case for support, describe how your experience, achievements and plans will: • Save lives, • Improve lives, • Create hope for the future, • Achieve greater cost efficiency, • Expand programs to do more, and… • How this will be of potential benefit to donor

26. Helping non profits meet and exceed their fundraising goals Focus On: Setting Achievable Goals • Limit acquisition to renewable new donors. • Don’t solicit too far afield from your mission • Be judicious in using premiums • Choose one: growth in donor file or revenue? • Keep to schedule and stay on course until results are clear

27. Helping non profits meet and exceed their fundraising goals Focus On: Reducing the Budget • Allocate resources where they most impact net income – maximize efforts to core donors • Carefully monitor your lapsed segments by year of lapsed to reduce risk of over-mailing • Mail conservatively to event attendees and memorial donors, and segment them properly • Keep data clean and updated • Think twice before giving away premiums or enclosing non-essential inserts

28. Helping non profits meet and exceed their fundraising goals Focus On:Long-Term Success Find ways to elicit multiple, upgraded gifts from each donor: • Acknowledge gifts • Send welcome kits to new donors • Ask again within 6 months • Offer secure on-line and monthly giving options • Send Newsletters or other updates • Provide year-end tax statements • Create Donor Loyalty and Cumulative Giving programs that can be recognized using giving history • Give good reasons for donors to upgrade; acknowledge when they do • Multi-channel marketing – do it now!

29. Helping non profits meet and exceed their fundraising goals Focus On: Short-Term Strategy • Look for Challenge Grant opportunities – donors will appreciate the positive effects of a compounded gift • Emergency Appeals for Social Service organizations – now is the time, but don’t over-use it! • Focus on donor’s emotional identification – their sense of caring. Donors who are able to give more will upgrade to compensate for others who can no longer afford to contribute. • 55% of Americans said friends and family have the most influence on their decision to give to a charity, so cultivate your donors!

30. Helping non profits meet and exceed their fundraising goals Conclusion Fundraising is a marathon, not a sprint. Use every technique available to you to generate a gift, but don’t conclude success or failure on immediate results alone. You’re in it for the long haul … your ROIs are profitable only when you’ve started the renewal phase. Organizational patience, foresight and fortitude will reward you in the end!

31. Helping non profits meet and exceed their fundraising goals Wrapping up: • These slides will be available on the website at www.drsol.org/news tomorrow. • I will be sending a brief follow-up survey tomorrow and I hope you will take a moment to complete it. THANK YOU FOR JOINING US. 31

32. Helping non profits meet and exceed their fundraising goals Contact: For more information or for permission, please contact Marcia Scowcroft.