Event Retention Rates

Post by: Jono Smith, Event360

It's Twitter question of the month time. Mandy O'Neill (@mandyoneill) of the Connected Nonprofit asks two questions: Is there an average benchmark for repeat event participants, and for event donors that convert to recurring donors. Two great questions!

Among the last seven run/walk/ride fundraising programs Event 360 has worked on, the average number of repeat participants was 34% and the median was 30%. This is consistent with Blackbaud's donorCentrics Events Benchmarking group where five walk programs averaged a 40% participant retention rate.  Blackbaud's study also reported that multi-year participants raised more than new participants.

When building a retention program, it's important to remember to segment your fundraisers and your $0 participants. With limited resources, it makes sense to focus your retention efforts on the people most likely to fundraise again.

To Mandy's second question about converting event donors to organizational donors; unfortunately, a benchmark doesn't exist here. What we do know is that the typical event participant secures a minimum of three to four donors for an organization, and on average over 80% of event donors are new to the organization.

While it is often the case that an event donor’s motivation to support an organization is secondary to that of supporting the participant, this is by no means a reason to disregard such individuals. In fact, such a donor is very similar to an individual introduced to you by a friend at a social event. The burden rests with you to further engage this individual if you wish to pursue a deeper relationship and, if you do not take the first step to engage, chances are the relationship will never move beyond the event.

Top 10 Customer's Choice Awards

I recently read the book Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose and absolutely loved it.  I highly suggest picking it up.  And then I came across the Top 10 Customer's Choice Awards (see below) and it made me think... how cool would it be to see a nonprofit organization make the list?  Knowing that this particular list is more retail focused, who would make your Top 10 awards for customer service in the nonprofit field?  How would you get your organization into the Top 10?

No Words Necessary

Being the photography lover that I am - this post really caught my eye.  I think that nonprofits should hire professional photographers to help them get their message and mission out there.  What do you think?

I came across a picture the other night on Facebook that I promptly shared.  It had no explanation, no tag, no link, no credit, no nothing.  Just a 4-word phrase, “Worth a Thousand Words”.  The phrase was true.  As you can see, a generous man is taking the very shoes off of his feet and donating them to a child in need. The child is obviously emotional about his gift.  Wherever they are, there seems to be some industrialization, but yet he/she is still struggling and in need of very basic necessities. 

See how I interpreted that?  I crafted my own story from this picture.

  

Storytelling is one of the most recommended communication tactics in marketing and fundraising today. 

“Tell your brand’s story and connect deeper with your donors”

“People relate to people”

“Stories evoke emotions that drive action”

The advice goes on and on.  But have you ever thought about telling your story without words? How about just pictures?  Graphics that display exactly what your organization does.  An illustration of the end recipient benefiting from all those donations.  A simple statement without actually stating anything.  Sounds straightforward, I know.  But very few organizations seem to do it.  We always want to reiterate our point in case the reader didn’t get it the first 3 emails of the month.  It’s time to adapt to the new age of communication. 

We’re in the days of digital, ladies and gentleman - of texting instead of talking, avatars instead of real appearances, emails instead of addressing, and pictures instead of words.  The internet is slowly replacing the need for human interaction.  The idea of using pictures to send messages actually seems to put that human element back into contact.

Why do you think social networks like Pinterest, Instagram and Cowbird are getting so much traction?  They’re visually-driven and Americans don’t read!  (At least, not like we used to.)  I’m sure you’ve heard a lot about these networks recently and the truth is they’re the hottest things in social right now.  But if you can’t justify the investment with the limited resources you already have, it’s not the end of the world. Maybe, just maybe, there’s a way to repurpose the group activity and philosophy behind these popular networks into your everyday fundraising and marketing efforts … through graphical storytelling.

Forming an opinion or thought by viewing a picture is the new normal.  It’s quick, easy, and can be extremely powerful, more than text on a page (or in an email). 

Pictures are shareable on just about any social network and can grant your organization viral spread to the n’th degree in a matter of minutes – for virtually free.  When you design your next email, direct mail piece, or web page, think about what visuals would best represent your mission.  And I’m not talking about your logo.  Sum up the very reason for your existence in something powerful that warrants no written explanation (except maybe a call to action) - sort of like these:

  

The Salvation Army, Sierra del Mar

Charity Water

  

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)

National Multiple Sclerosis Society - Michael, Diagnosed in 2004

A few images and just one sentence can help you appeal to your constituents in a deeper way than any copy-written paragraph.  

-Amber Bonner

Amber is the Digital Project Manager in Merkle’s nonprofit vertical.  She chooses to Do What Matters because “it’d be too easy not to.  Challenge is good.”

Thank You Email

Within days of attending a March of Dimes Walk in Des Moines, Iowa, I got the following thank you email.  The organizers kept it very simple and still answered every question I had and thanked their sponsors.  It is so nice getting an email with the overall amount raised - sometimes it takes organizations so long to pull this information together and the participants forget to go back to the website to check out the results.  I loved how they advertised their facebook page and gave us a place to go for photos.  Good job, March of Dimes!

Hello!

THANK YOU for walking with us at Des Moines March for Babies! We are happy to announce that because of your efforts, the campaign raised $297,000! Great job, everyone!!

Your generosity and dedication amazes us and we are grateful to have your support.

• If you have any donations or matching gift forms that need to be turned in, please send them to March of Dimes, 2910 Westown Pkwy., Ste. 301 and attach a note with the walker and/or team name so that we can make sure you get credit.
• The website is still active for any of your donors who wanted to make a credit card/PayPal donation but didn’t get to before the walk. Also, the iPad giveaway will continue until June 1.
• Don’t forget to like us on facebook, we’ll be posting pictures to our page (and we’ll probably need help tagging everyone! J)

Finally, a big thank you to our major sponsors: Aviva USA, Citi, Farmers Insurance, Iowa Health-Des Moines, Mercy Medical Center, American Republic Insurance, MetaBank and Sammons Financial Group; our ambassador family, The Sklenar Family; and our in-kind sponsors Iowa Pork Producers, Atlantic Bottling Company, Dahl’s, Pepsi Americas and The Wittern Group!

Thank you so much for bringing us closer to the day when all babies are born healthy. Have a fantastic day!

Heather & Lora 

Fundraising Minimums: Friend or Foe?

Are fundraising minimums a) unnecessary barriers to participation, or b) useful elements of an effective event fundraising strategy? I'll go with Option B.

arial="arial" helvetica="helvetica" line-height:="line-height:" sans-serif="sans-serif">The primary argument against fundraising minimums — and registration fees as well — is that they scare off would-be participants. That's true. And it's a good thing. 

arial="arial" helvetica="helvetica" line-height:="line-height:" sans-serif="sans-serif">When you set a fundraising minimum, you weed out the people who lack the commitment, time or network to make an impact through your event. Raising the minimum might not affect registration numbers much, but you might see more people dropping out once they register. You're left with participants who are more likely to make a real difference for your cause by contributing to the success of your event.

In terms of separating the wheat from the chaff, registration fees serve a similar role as minimums. By setting a price floor, they send a message that the participant experience has value and is worth paying for — uncommitted people need not apply. As a result, you're likely to see a drop in participation but an increase in overall dollars raised.

Sponsors and media may get caught up in high participant numbers. But your event can only succeed if you minimize the number of people making minimal contributions. I'll take a smaller number of high-impact participants over the opposite scenario any day.

Arriving at the Right Numbers
arial="arial" helvetica="helvetica" line-height:="line-height:" sans-serif="sans-serif">There is longstanding research in the consumer space about how prices create perceived value. It's the same with events. When we tell a participant they can come for free, how much do you think they value the experience? 

Once you've decided to have a fundraising minimum and/or registration fee, determining the figures is an art and a science. First of all, see what similar events in your area are doing. Second, compare your event with similar events and consider whether you offer any additional value that would justify higher numbers.

Finally, if yours is a well-established event, look at past performance. If participants generally reach the minimum with little trouble, maybe it's time to up the ante. Perhaps you can raise the minimum across the board. Or, maybe there are certain obvious breakpoints where you can push the minimum higher and create communities of "super performers" within your event.

In some cases, conversely, you may want to drop the minimum to make it more attainable — e.g. if very few participants are activating. With the proper messaging, this can reset the participant mindset around the importance of raising funds and foster a fundraising culture.
One note of caution: Don't adjust the minimum every year. Through strong execution of a recognition program around fundraising, you'll make successful achievement of certain goals attractive to some participants. Constantly changing the goal minimizes its meaning and could be demotivating.

Regarding registration fees: We've used price elasticity models to help determine the figure at which we begin to lose too many participants to make it worthwhile. You, too, should use financial models in setting that price point.

It All Comes Back to the Mission
As you can probably guess by now, I'm a strong proponent of always having a registration fee and fundraising minimum (whether it's required or strongly suggested).

It's easy to justify a registration fee because it helps a worthwhile nonprofit like yours to cover the cost of holding the event. No one can argue with that logic.

A fundraising minimum, in contrast, is all about helping your organization meet its mission — and you should articulate this point to participants. For example, "By raising $750, you'll fund six months of lifesaving medications needed by someone battling this disease." That's a tangible, mission-related outcome that participants can get their arms around.

At Event 360, we believe fundraising minimums and registration fees make good financial sense. In fact, every time we've seen a minimum and/or registration fee implemented, there's been an improvement in overall event performance. Take the chance and see for yourself!
Vice president, fundraising strategy Meghan Dankovich serves as the lead for many of Event 360's consulting engagements, striving to help nonprofits exceed their event fundraising goals. Her expertise includes strategic planning, implementation of qualitative fundraising work and developing successful quantitative approaches for collecting and analyzing event-related data.

Mosquitoes Suck

Came across this PSA if you will and loved it.  I really applaud the creativity in getting their point across.  Looking forward to seeing more YouTube type "asks" in our future.

Awareness to Fundraising

Here at Event 360 we like talking about fundraising. I mean, we really like talking about fundraising. And we especially like talking about fundraising with organizations run by passionate people who are dedicated to making the world a better place. Over the past few months I’ve had the privilege of talking about fundraising with one such organization, the AIDS Foundation of Chicago.

The AIDS Foundation of Chicago (AFC) was founded in 1985 and their mission is “to lead the fight against HIV/AIDS and improve the lives of people affected by the epidemic.” I met their Director of Endurance Events, Dan Lakin, when he attended our “Creating Great Fundraising Coaches” session at Run Walk Ride earlier this year. Dan followed up with us after the conference and asked if Event 360 would develop a series of fundraising training sessions for the AFC staff and participants. Talking about fundraising with passionate people who are dedicated to making the world a better place? Yes, we’d be happy to!

I met with the AFC staff in May to talk about the importance of creating a fundraising culture and how to talk to participants about fundraising. Shortly after that I met with endurance athletes from the Team to End AIDS (T2) program and talked to them about how to fundraise and why their fundraising efforts are so important. Most recently I met with team captains from the AIDS Run & Walk Chicago, a 5K/10K event taking place on September 30, 2012.

In developing this most recent session I worked with Rhett Lindsey, Manager of Fundraising Events at AFC.  Rhett and his team are working to shift the AIDS Run & Walk Chicago from an awareness event to a fundraising event. Historically, the AIDS Run & Walk Chicago has been one in which most people show up, pay a registration fee and participate without fundraising. That’s not uncommon in the event fundraising world, as many of us know all too well. At this session we focused on talking to their team captains about the importance of fundraising and then taking them through a Fundraising 101 so they could pass the information along to their teammates.

Beyond offering fundraising training for their team captains and participants, here are three other things that the AIDS Run & Walk team is doing to move from an awareness event to a fundraising event:

1. Making a well-articulated “ask.” Any effective fundraising program starts and ends with presenting others with an opportunity to help and asking for their support. Event fundraising is no different. And yet, creating an effective request is the most neglected part of any program. You need to create an “ask” that is specific, concise, tailored to a defined outcome and hard to refuse. You must ask your participants to fundraise! If you don’t, participants will show up to your event, raise $0 in funds, and think that they have helped your cause at the end of the day.
2. Weaving Fundraising into the Fabric of the Event. The more you talk about fundraising, the clearer it will become to your participants that this is a fundraising event. When you weave fundraising language throughout each piece that your participants see — registration form, website, brochures, event information and more — it sends a message: participation alone isn’t enough. Your participants want to support you and it is up to you to direct their efforts.
3. Providing Participant Support. In peer-to-peer fundraising you are enlisting all of your participants to personally ask their friends, family and coworkers for donations. It is important to ensure that you are providing specific instructions to your participants to help turn them into successful fundraisers. For example, instead of asking participants to “raise money,” ask “Will you ask ten of your friends to donate to you today?” This also means that participants need to be equipped with fundraising training and tools to improve their skill in asking others for support on your behalf.

Post by: Suzanne Mooney, Event360

44 Ways to Turn You Participants into Fundraisers

Turning your everyday supporters into fundraising superstars isn’t easy. It requires the right combination of fundraising expertise, engaged staff members, and savvy technology.

When done well, the results are impressive. Supporters raise significant amounts of money and bring new donors to your organization. For example, The Ride For Roswell event has seen an increase from $330,000 to $2.8 million raised annually since 2004 by helping participants become fundraisers.

As Blackbaud's Steve MacLaughlin recently mentioned, health organizations that turn supporters into fundraisers continue to be leaders in online fundraising, and this growth is now an important contributor to their overall revenue.

So, how can you help supporters become fundraising superstars? Below are 44 tips I’ve learned, organized by topic and ordered from easiest to hardest to implement. 

Teach Them to Fundraise and Provide Samples

1. Encourage them to use their social network. As Anthony Sicola’s recently mentioned, fundraisers who use who use social networking tools like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube increase fundraising results by up to 40%.
2. Offer rewards for fundraising levels achieved. At this year’s SXSW conference, keynote speaker Seth Priebatsch predicted a shift from the “social layer” to the “game layer” over the next decade. Make fundraising a game by offering rewards for levels achieved (E.g. $50 gift card for $5,000 raised).
3. Encourage them to start a team of fundraisers. Not only do teams raise more money for your organization, they add camaraderie and competition to fundraising.
4. Hold contests. After the initial excitement wears off, your fundraisers may need motivation. Create contests that reward fundraising activity. (E.g. Highest fundraiser in June receives 4 movie passes).
5. Provide samples of everything. Don’t let your fundraisers get stuck on something you could have easily provided. Supply sample fundraising emails, Facebook posts, tweets, phone scripts, thank you notes, approved logos, etc.
6. Provide fundraising success stories. Tell them how to raise money, challenges they’ll likely face and the impact their donations will have on your mission.
7. Provide fundraising tips so they know how to get started. Not every method of fundraising will be for everyone. Provide numerous ideas, but do emphasize the most efficient methods such as sending email through a tool like Friend Asking Friends.
8. Tell them how to approach their business contacts. Contacting a vendor or customer is different from asking their neighbor for support. Provide tips on fundraising with the corporate world.
9. But…let them know your key corporate relationships. You probably already receive support from many local companies. Avoid embarrassment and disappointment for everyone involved by disclosing who already generously supports your cause.
10. Offer tips for approaching the media. Your fundraisers may be fearless in promoting your cause. This is good. When approaching the media, though, they may need help. Offer tips and advice to receive coverage of their efforts.
11. Explain which types of fundraising events are most efficient. Recommend focusing on events that raise the most money for the least amount of work. For example, happy hours generally outperform bake sales.
12. Hold fundraising lunches/seminars/receptions to teach them how to fundraise. While success stories may have provided ideas, these sessions will let fundraisers “ask the experts” and get their questions answered.
13. Create an online community for your fundraisers to interact and share their ideas. Other fundraisers may have great tips or advice. Provide a way to collaborate and share.

Connect Them to Your Cause

1. Allow your fundraisers to raise restricted money. They may have been moved by one aspect of your cause and will want to fundraise for it.
2. Invite your top fundraisers to join your volunteer committee. This will make fundraisers feel closer to your organization and responsible for its success. Doing this will also inject some new enthusiasm and ideas into your committees.
3. Offer a tour of your hospital/school/office to further connect them to your cause. Meeting the people who will be helped and seeing the places that will be impacted by their efforts will give your fundraisers extra motivation.
4. Keep them updated on how donations will be used. Let them know the outcome of their hard work. If it’s an annual event or program, you want these fundraisers back each year.
5. Celebrate their accomplishments annually with a thank you party/dinner/reception/etc. It’s an extra opportunity to say thanks, connect them to your mission and encourage future participation.

Treat Fundraisers Like VIPs

1. When someone creates a fundraising page, call to say thanks and answer questions. Let them know you’re there to help. Not sure you have time to offer this type of assistance? What if you knew they’d raise $20,000?
2. Check-in occasionally. At some point, most fundraisers will feel discouraged, intimidated or confused about fundraising. Offer your expertise (and encouragement).
3. Ask them what you can do better. Your fundraisers likely could have used additional support or resources at some point. Learn what else would’ve helped, and provide this for future fundraisers.
4. Implement their good ideas. It will help them take ownership of the program and feel responsible for its success.  If you don’t implement an idea, tell them why not.
5. Find out what motivates your fundraiser. They are likely fundraising because of your cause, to be part of a team or receive an incentive (it’s true). Find out what motivates them and tailor communications accordingly.
6. Celebrate their milestones. Your fundraisers will likely be really excited when they reach their goal. Capitalize on this opportunity to thank them. Tools like Friends Asking Friends will even send automated messages when 50% or 100% of the goal is reached.
7. Respond quickly to fundraiser questions and complaints. Problems + slow response times = frustrated fundraisers. They may stop fundraising altogether until they hear back from you. The longer that takes, the less fundraising momentum they’ll have.
8. Offer your fundraisers any “extras” you have. Have extra tickets to the game? An extra seat at your gala? Call your top fundraisers first. Treat them like VIPs.
9. Arrange meet-and-greets with celebrities at events. Regardless of whether it’s meeting a professional athlete or a radio station DJ, give your fundraiser the VIP treatment whenever possible. It may keep them motivated.

Highlight Fundraisers Online and Create User-Friendly Forms

1. Make it easy to find a fundraiser’s page on your website. The more website visitors have to search for pages, the less likely they’ll donate. The Ride For Roswell does a nice job placing “Donate to a Rider” above the fold on their home page.
2. Make donation forms concise and compelling. Help your fundraisers by creating donation forms that are concise, compelling, and easy to complete. Family Legacy has one of the simplest forms I’ve seen.
3. Spotlight a new fundraiser on your website each month. It provides recognition and encourages others to start fundraising.
4. Ensure the registration form is concise and easy to complete. This makes it simple for anyone to get started and prevents frustration during the initial steps.
5. List top fundraisers on your website. Recognition and competition are two powerful motivators that may inspire some fundraisers to send out another batch of emails. Check out how YWCA Calgary does it in their Walk A Mile event.

Help Them Follow Personal Fundraising Page Best Practices

1. Allow supporters to create a fundraising page whenever they want to.
2. Give supporters the ability to set up a fundraising page for any occasion. Maybe they want people to donate on their behalf instead of having them buy presents for their birthday. Or maybe they’d like to help you get that new facility quicker. Whatever the cause, make it simple for them to get started and flexible enough to support their efforts. Here’s a cool example by Lustgarten.
3. Add a great default photo to fundraising pages. According to the Blackbaud and the Run Walk Ride Fundraising Council Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Consumer Survey, only 45% of fundraisers personalize their fundraising page. Your photo may inspire others to donate.
4. Make your default “My Story” compelling on fundraising pages. Not all fundraisers will change the “My Story” area. Your default story may inspire others to donate.
5. Add page sharing tools to the fundraising page. Free tools like Add This allow the page to easily be shared via email and social media.
6. Let them create a Friendly URL for their page. It’s much easier for fundraisers to tell potential supporters to visit a specific page, instead of your home page.
7. List the names and amounts of each donor on fundraising pages. Peer pressure has a funny way of inspiring larger gifts. Show gift names and amounts on a donor wall, like North Shore Medical Center’s Cancer Walk/Run.
8. Allow them to change their goal at any time. Once they reach their goal, it’s less compelling for friends to support them. Let them up their goal at any time, with tools like Friends Asking Friends.
9. Allow them to import email contacts into their fundraising dashboard. Once imported, fundraisers can keep track of which contacts who have donated, not opened the email , forwarded the email, etc.
10. Allow fundraising pages to be shared on Facebook and Twitter from their fundraising dashboard. Every extra click you eliminate saves your fundraisers time. Remember, social media can have an incredible impact on peer-to-peer fundraising effectiveness.
11. Allow fundraisers to upload either photos or videos to their page. A video can tell a more powerful story than a photo. Give fundraisers the option to upload a video, like Diabetes Research Institute does.
12. Create short education videos for every step of the way. Show them how to register, setup a page, import contacts, email family and friends, and other important fundraising activities.

OK, there’s my 44. So, what tips do you have for us?

This blog post originally appeared on Blackbaud's NetWitsThinkTank.com.  The author Mike Snusz brings over eight years of nonprofit experience to his role as a Senior Internet Marketing Consultant for Blackbaud, where he develops strategic marketing services to help nonprofits build constituent relationships, deliver compelling messages and maximize giving opportunities. He previously managed the turnaround of the Ride For Roswell, including the event’s growth from $330,000 to $870,000 over a two-year period. With sound online fundraising, email and marketing practices in place, the event now raises over $2 million annually. Mikes holds a B.A. in Marketing and M.S. in Organizational Leadership from Mercyhurst College. He also volunteers for Compass, providing pro bono strategic consulting to strengthen the sustainability of Greater Washington DC nonprofits.

Which Americans are most generous?

The Chronicle of Philanthropy yesterday published loads of data on giving patterns among American donors.  You can search for your specific community giving here.  The research is based on tax returns from people claiming charitable deductions. Among the most interesting findings:

1. The rich aren’t richly generous.  Says the Chronicle, “Middle-class Amer­i­cans give a far bigger share of their discretionary income to charities than the rich. Households that earn $50,000 to $75,000 give an average of 7.6 percent of their discretionary income to charity, compared with an average of 4.2 percent for people who make $100,000 or more. In the Washington metropolitan area, for example, low- and middle-income communities like Suitland, Md., and Capitol Heights, Md., donate a much bigger share of discretionary income than do wealthier communities like Bethesda, Md., and McLean, Va.”

2. You need to know the stories to care.  Rich people who live around rich people are less generous than rich people who live in more economically diverse communities. If you don’t see or hear about poverty, you aren’t as likely to act to remedy it.  This is why it’s so critical to submerge people in the experience of those less fortunate through storytelling, events and other efforts.  They have to know and feel to care.

3. Tax incentives matter. Special tax benefits for giving appear to encourage more giving.

4. Religion prompts more giving - much of it via churches.  Says the Chronicle, “Religion has a big influence on giving patterns. Regions of the country that are deeply religious are more generous than those that are not. Two of the top nine states—Utah and Idaho—have high numbers of Mormon residents, who have a tradition of tithing at least 10 percent of their income to the church. The remaining states in the top nine are all in the Bible Belt.”

5. Utah is the most generous state; New Hampshire, the least.  While Utah is over 10 percent, New Hampshire reported charitable contributions that totaled only 2.5 percent of discretionary income.

Post by Katya Andresen

7 Post Event Email Sins

Post by: Jeff Shuck, Event360

This morning, when I opened my email, the first two messages I read were transactional emails (emails facilitating, competing or confirming a previously agreed upon transaction). The first was a post-event email from a fundraising walk I had registered for, and the second was from an airline about a recent flight I had taken. The email from the airline had a compelling subject line, excellent personalization, interesting content, a strong call-to-action, strategic use of graphic design, and easy to find social icons. The event email, well, didn't.

1. The Subject Line: "Thanks for your participation" just doesn't cut it as a compelling subject line--after all, the subject line is arguably the most important part of your email because it gauges interest (open rates are a measure of reader interest). If your email service provider supports A/B testing, then go ahead and test two options in your subject line to find what resonates: a) describe the email content using clear, succinct, descriptive language; and, b) use a deadline, appeal to emotions, or use a specific call to action.
2. Personalization: There's really no excuse for emails that begin with "Dear Supporter."  At the very least, you should use a personal greeting, but don't stop there. Think about other personal details you might be able to drop into your email. for example, try segmenting your list by gender, geography or anything else you know about your event participants, so you can personalize the content based on the people to whom you’re sending.
3. No Mission Message: Your post-event email communications are a great opportunity to reinforce your mission with short, memorable messages that convey your organization's mission. Here's an example: Every year, more than 120,000 babies in the U.S. are born with birth defects. The causes of about 70% of these are unknown. To find answers, the March of Dimes invests millions of dollars annually in research to discover ways to prevent birth defects that can disable a child for a lifetime.
4. Word Count: Your post-event emails should have a clear purpose and should be written in your organization's unique voice. In this case, the airline message was 110 words of engaging content while the event email was over 300 words of dry content (Footnote: in the retail sector, the average word count for repeat promotional emails is only 235 words).
5. Fundraising Ask: This was a fundraising event, and yet the post-event email had no fundraising ask. Considering it's December and that the majority of event participants raise no money, shouldn't you be asking for a self-donation, or reminding people it's not too late to fundraiser?
6. Design: Yes, your emails should be aesthetically pleasing, but most importantly they should be designed toward your ultimate goal. For example, what do you want your event participants to do with your email: read it, click through to the website, donate, register for next year, or share your email? And how are you going to measure success: open rate, click rate, conversion rate, or sharethis tracking? Bottom line: Consider allocating a small percentage of your marketing budget to email design testing and optimization--it has increased click-through rates by as much as 26% in some studies.
7. Rendering: Proper email rendering is key, as email recipients tend to view your email in five separate stages—judging each one individually before deciding whether to move on. They are:
   • From Name: Your email fights for attention in a crowded inbox, and according to the Email Sender and Provider Coalition (ESPC), 73% of subscribers click “Report Spam” or “Report Junk” based on the content of the ‘from’ field.
   • Subject Line: After weighing the appropriateness of your ‘from’ address, subscribers then move their attention to your subject line. The ESPC notes that 69% of subscribers base their decision to send your message to the spam folder on the subject line.
   • Preview Pane:Your email doesn't necessarily have to be open for your recipients to view the content. When present, many recipients use preview panes to get a quick look at your message before opening. As such, it’s important to make sure your call-to-action is visible in the preview pane.
   • Opened Email (Pre-Scroll): So, your recipient clicks on your email and it opens in a new window. But how many of those recipients view the entire email including the content “below the fold?” The answer is surprisingly few.
   • View Full Email: You've enticed your recipient to view your entire email, but what will they see when reading your entire message? Nielsen Norman Group’s usability study determined that users, once engaged, spend an average of 51 seconds on each newsletter in their inbox. With such a short time frame, how do you want your subscribers spending their time?

Every time you send an email to your event participants, you are competing with hundreds of other emails--many of which are communicating something new, relevant, believable, differentiating, and emotional. What are you doing to stand out?

For more on this topic, read Jeff Shuck's blog on how to implement simple segmentation strategies.

Vital Forgotten Emails

By; Katya Andresen

When someone signs up to receive emails from you, what’s the first thing you send?  Do you just add them to your e-newsletter distribution?  Or do you actually welcome them?

Don’t neglect the most important emails - the first ones you send! 

My colleagues Allison Schwalm and Caryn Stein have created a nifty mini-guide (free with registration) that provides all the details on how to do this right.  Read the whole guide here, and remember their advice:

A welcome series is a sequence of 2-3 simple, personal email messages (a plus if you’re able to automate them!) that a constituent receives over the course of their first few weeks on your email list, educating them about your organization, its programs, and ways to get involved and stay connected. Executed thoughtfully, a welcome series can help you give new constituent relationships the personal attention they need (before asking for donations to your organization) without a huge resource commitment.

Include:

A personal greeting from the voice of your organization:  This could be your organization’s Executive Director, a staff member that works in your development department or a celebrity spokesperson. (Quick tip: Tread lightly with your spokesperson. Constituents want to talk to someone that relates to them on an ongoing basis not just a talking head.) This email will highlight the state of your organization and with educate the new constituents about what your organization does and the people or community that you serve. Focus on educating your new constituents and reminding them what they signed up for. Reinforce benefits and set expectations about what your constituents will receive and how often.

Highlight specific ways your constituents can get involved: Have really great programs geared toward families? Looking for volunteers for your homeless ministry? Planning a gala dinner and recruiting committee members? In your second welcome message, place emphasis on educating newcomers on ways to get involved or highlighting the value of being a supporter. Mentioning upcoming events will also give new constituents a chance to meet your staff in person and will likely increase their level of involvement with your organization.

Provide other ways to engage with your organization: Tell them about the ways they can connect with your staff through Facebook or Twitter (Want to learn more about engaging donors with these tools? Check out the also free guide: Woo and Wow Your Donors with Social Media). Do you post great videos that are super sharable? Include a link to Your YouTube channel.

This is great advice for getting started.  For more, check out the full mini-guide here.  Or check out the on-demand webinar on the topic here.

Social Media Post Ideas

Are you stuck on what to post on social media today?  Network for Good has a great mini-guide on the topic here (free with registration).  Check out our tips for Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and more.  And while you’re downloading the document, here are ten quick ideas if your creative well is dry.  Thanks to my colleague and guide author Caryn Stein for these pointers.  And don’t forget - you can always highlight someone else’s great content when you don’t know what to say yourself.  That works well in the social media gift economy. And on this blog!

1. Offer a sneak peek of an upcoming newsletter, event or program.
2. Show what goes on behind the scenes at your office.
3. Introduce a member of your staff.
4. Report from the scene of your work or event.
5. Share photos of your volunteers in action.
6. Connect your work to a news story, trend or meme.
7. Ask a trivia question related to your cause.
8. Share a testimonial from a beneficiary or supporter.
9. Choose a “fan of the day” and give them a shout out.
10. Celebrate a success story.

By: Katya Andresen

Your Mission is the Gift

By: Katya Andresen

A week ago I posted on the question, should you give your donors gifts?  I got a big response via email.  Many people wrote to say they agreed, and that the advice offered reflected their own experiences as fundraisers.  A few even told me that their most consistent donors typically decline the gifts they offer.  And a bunch wrote me with more questions.  I got the most questions about events.  I was asked, do the rules I offered on donor premiums apply at events?  I decided that I should go to an events expert who was far smarter than me for the answers.  So I contacted Jeff Shuck, CEO of Event 360.  I have enormous respect for Jeff and his thought leadership, and so I asked him to answer that question for me.  Here is his thoughtful response.  Thank you Jefffor weighing in.  This is good advice and recommended reading for all fundraisers!

Jeff writes:

Katya graciously asked me to weigh in on the use (and usefulness) of fundraising incentives after her wonderful blog post from last week raised several comments on the subject. In particular, she received a thoughtful inquiry about whether the findings of neuromarketer Roger Dooley – that fundraising gifts are actually a disincentive to donations – apply in the peer-to-peer space, where our constituents are sometimes not donors directly but the networkers who connect us to those donors. If donor gifts actually depress donations, does that mean that fundraising incentives like t-shirts, tote bags, and custom jerseys are not effective in getting participants to solicit gifts from their friends?

I should be upfront about my areas of expertise, as well as my gaps: I lead the country’s largest event fundraising firm. What I am not is a neuromarketer, psychologist, or behavioral economist. That said, I often feel like I have taken on a minor career in fundraising swag, and so if Katya is offering me a soapbox, I’m standing on it.

Allow me to first say that from what I’ve observed, fundraising incentives in some cases can be useful in driving fundraising behavior. Many large-scale peer-to-peer programs are powered by t-shirts, and there’s no denying that for some constituents the thrill of a new branded windbreaker or golf towel is a powerful call to action.

But – there’s a but. As my clients and team members will attest, I hardly ever recommend incentives, and I think that on the whole they are a real problem in my industry. Here are a few reasons why.

• Confusion between the reward and the ask. A main piece of evidence that incentives appear to work is the fact that in incentive-based programs there are fundraising peaks at incentive levels. In other words, if your event program gives out a shirt at $100 and a jacket at $500, you will probably see fundraising performance peak at those levels. So the incentive must work, right? However, it is not at all clear if the incentives are the cause or the effect. An organization with incentive levels at $100 and $500 will communicate much more actively about why participants should raise $100 and $500, and about the need for fundraising in general. Is it the reward or the increased communication that has inspired the fundraising activity? Our firm has run programs in which we’ve used specific, mission-based asks in place of incentives and have achieved the same results, with lower costs and higher mission awareness. In my experience, you are just as likely to drive action by asking for action (and creating a powerful case to support it) than by giving away toasters and oven mitts.

• Reciprocity is a poor way to change the world. As Dooley details, fundraising gifts work based on a psychological principle of “reciprocity” – the innate human obligation to return a favor bestowed with a favor given. However, Dooley (and Cialdini, and the Heath brothers, and many others) have also emphasized that reciprocity is, in a real sense, a way to take advantage of people’s altruism. They’ll help you, but they’ll resent you for it. While that is an effective way to hit year-end goals, it is a horrible way to create long-term constituents.

• Incentives beget more incentives. An incentive culture creates, in almost every case, an incentive death spiral. Once you start recruiting people with discounts and motivating them with gifts, you will increasingly find that you turn to discounts and gifts to grow your program. And, it will become increasingly hard to hit “reset” and re-focus your program on mission. This is the same reason, incidentally, that while I love Groupon for marketing your nail salon but not for marketing your fundraising program. If I can buy your $100 gala ticket for $50, why would I ever pay $100?

I could go on and on, but at the end of the day Katya was right:  “The greatest gift you can give a donor is to make them feel they made a difference that mattered.”  The number one reason people give to charity is because they are asked; and the most effective asks are rooted in a powerful vision for a better world. Events – and campaigns, and appeals, and donor visits, and mailings, and websites – are supposed to be occasions to ASK. Often we turn them into mechanisms to help us avoid the ask: “We have a budget shortfall – let’s hold a dinner!”

Incentives trick us into missing the real conversation. Should we thank people? Absolutely. And in the right context, colored shirts or jackets or jerseys can be a nice way to recognize people who committed to the world we’re working to create. But every time we talk about t-shirts instead of fundraising, we’re not only missing the chance to talk about our mission – we’re cheapening it, too.

I’ll admit, it is a lot easier to say “raise $100 and get a t-shirt” than it is to ask, “There is too much pain and suffering in the world for either of us, and I think you agree, and so will you raise $100 to help me change it?” But at the end of the day, incentives are transactional; changing the world is relational. A better world, sadly, cannot be bought for a large cotton cloth; nor will someone who participates for the cotton cloth be truly invested in your vision of that world.

You’re worth more than that. Focus on the conversation that matters, and for backing up why it matters with authentic stories of how you’re making a tangible difference. Leave the swag for the sales conference. 

@JeffShuck is co-founder and CEO of Event 360, a Chicago-based company focused on helping organizations use events to create a better world. And what a family, right?

How Do I Get Participants to Raise More Money?

Article by: Meghan Dankovich, Event360

Last month, I presented a five-part plan for getting participants to raise more money. In this post, I'll share some tactical recommendations to flesh out your strategy. As you'll see, these recommendations are all about encouraging the desired behavior in participants.

Encourage participants to register earlier. Those who register earlier have more time to fundraise. Give them incentives to register ASAP, such as offering an early-bird discount, a past-performer discount or pre-registration for next year's event.

Encourage goal setting. With online registration, auto-populate the "goal" field with a realistic figure, but give people the option to change it. We've found that those who take the opportunity to adjust their goal — either higher or lower — typically perform better than those who don't make any changes.

Encourage self-donations. If you're not doing it already, ask for a self-donation at the point of registration. Encourage them to demonstrate to donors their commitment to the cause by jumpstarting their fundraising with a personal gift. You'd be surprised at how well participants respond to this type of ask.

Encourage team participation. Participants on teams tend to feel a sense of peer pressure, accountability and support — and often find inspiration from their teammates. This all adds up to better performance.

Encourage them to become team captains. Those with a direct connection to your cause are often the best candidates to become team captains. These motivated leaders can be strong recruiters and inspire their teams to reach greater heights. Thanking team captains — on your website, at opening ceremonies, with a brunch or luncheon — makes sense, too.

Encourage them to communicate with donors. Give participants instructions that are easily accomplished (e.g. email your five closest friends this week), and even offer incentives (e.g. email 10 people this week and be entered in a drawing to win a prize). Suggest they email donors with updates on their fundraising and training progress leading up to the event, and then send thank-you's after the event to make it feel good and inclusive to be a supporter. This does wonders for strengthening your fundraising culture over the long term, as donors will get attached to their experience of the event as well.

And after the event … Survey participants according to segment. Ask high performers the ways in which you helped them most. Ask low performers what you could have done to help them more. Ask everyone about their "affinity driver" and cause connection to see what other forces are at work (if that information was not already collected at registration).

If possible, tie your survey results back to your registrant list in the event database to assess self-reported data against actual behavioral data. Above all, make sure you only ask questions to those answers you're willing and able to act on. This is a great learning opportunity, so be sure to take advantage of it!

A Final Note
The last comment I’d make about getting participants to raise more money is simply to ASK! Sure, providing support, guidance and recognition are all important functions of your relationship with them. But asking them to do more in the name of your mission can often be the most direct and successful tactic of all. 

Find Participants with Potential

Excerpt from Friends Asking Amy blogpost by Amy Braiterman. See full post here.

When you return from your break take a fresh look at all your numbers. Don’t just focus on the revenue, look for other program indicators. 

1. Look registrations: number of teams, number of participants, individual participants. How do those numbers compare to last year and to your goals for this year?  
2. Have all your top fundraising teams from last year have signed up again; if they have are they active? Meaning- are they a team of one or have multiple people signed up; if people have signed up are they fundraising?
3. Run a report and find your active fundraiser.  How do you tell if someone is active?  Check and see if they’ve updated their fundraising page, sent emails from their HQ, and number of gifts they’ve received. Once you’ve found these individuals, give them a call and encourage them to keep up the good work.
4. Run a report and find your participants with potential.  Who has potential?  My favorite way of identify potential fundraiser is to if they changed their fundraising goal.  Why… great question.  Here’s my theory…  let’s face it we ask a lot of information during the registration process, so if someone takes the time to read your entire form carefully and they make a thoughtful decision to change their fundraising from the preset amount they’re committed – they’re into you.  They took the time to think about fundraising and what was a good personal goal.