FULFILLING THE PROMISE:

CREATING EFFECTIVE

CONVERSION AND STEWARDSHIP

DONOR JOURNEYS

Introductions

• Jessica Cassidy, Cornell Lab of Ornithology

• Mary Getz, Integrated Marketing Strategy & Technology Consultant

• Krista Sassaman, Schultz & Williams

What We’ll be Talking about Today …

• Elements of successful and profitable donor Stewardship and Conversion programs: why they work, how to use them

• How to identify and plan for a pilot constituent journey; or fine-tune your current communications plan

• Viewing Stewardship as fundraisers… through the lens of Direct Response, but with applicability to Development

Stewardship: Definition Source: Association of Donor Relations Professionals

• Donor relations/Stewardship is the comprehensive effort of any nonprofit that seeks philanthropic support to ensure that donors experience high-quality interactions with the organization that foster long-term engagement and investment

• This effort has four elements that together support the acquisition and retention of donors:• Gift acceptance and management• Acknowledgment• Donor recognition• Donor reporting

• Our definition for today: Stewardship is non-transactional communication that recognizes a donor and their gift, seeks to share information that is meaningful to the donor, and strives to create a feedback loop between organization and donor.

Conversion: Our Definition

• Conversion = taking an action• From visitor to lead (for example, through email sign up or petition

signing)

• From lead to donor (by making a gift)

• From donor to multi gift donor (through second gift conversion)

• Conversion is typically benchmarked and measured (signups, new donors) against a projected goal

Stewardship 101: Thanks and Feedback

• The Must Dos:• Timely acknowledgement and gift confirmation• When possible, thank the donor- in addition to acknowledging - through the same

channel the donor used for contact

• Personalize your communication • Donor’s name, gift purpose at minimum• What other data can you use?

• Report to them how their gift accomplished using quantifiable terms – and when possible, make it about how lives were improved• People sheltered• Dogs rescued• Birds tagged

• Storytelling: focus on who benefits from donor’s generosity

Conversion 101• Action taking that increases donor value and/or supports your

mission• Giving

• Signing

• Sharing information

• Elements of successful and profitable donor conversion programs• What they are

• Why they work

• How to create and use them

How Stewardship and Conversion Work Together

• Conversion and Stewardship have different goals, but in successful programs, they are part of the same journey

• Stewardship bolsters Conversion• Moves donor from action to giving; from episodic to intentional giving

• Lifts chances of second gift

• Discussion: Blending urgency touches into stewardship

9

Strategy: Use the John Oliver segment interviewing His Holiness to engage members and prospects

Goal: Cultivation and stewardship

Channels: Emails; Social media

Results• Lifted open rate• Over 750 action takers• Lift in new email list

signups for standing donor conversion program

Example: Using An Interview for Engagement

Making the Case for the Value of Stewardship

Building the Case for Investment in Stewardship

Building the Case for Investment in Stewardship

• Elements to consider:• Why should you care about Stewardship as an organization?

• How does it feed your mission?

• Can you measure its impact? Yes!• Are your systems set up to do so?

• What resources are needed to pilot the program?

• How will you manage the process internally?

• Most importantly – how is it good for your donors?

Stewardship: It’s a team sport!

• Find and cultivate internal partners

• Work across organizational silos

• Support shared goals for donor development

Image: Fitzpatrick, H. “What Does It Take to Break Down Silos?” (June 2017) www.upturnstrategies.com/index.php/2017/06/25/break-down-silos/

How do donors’ needs figure into this?

Donor Manifesto/Bill of Rights

• Does your organization have a position statement on donor/constituent treatment?

• What it can bring to your stewardship efforts

• What to do/think about if you don’t

2017, Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP), all rights reserved. Reprinted with permission from the Association of Fundraising Professionals.

Mapping the Journey(s)

So Much to Do: Marketing Automation Can Help

Building Your Journey: Audience

• Birthdays

• Anniversaries – of first action or first gift

• First gift, Second gift, Third gift . . .

• Sustaining gift

• First action

• Achieving giving/action thresholds

• Visiting unique points on your website

• Failure to complete gift/action

Building Your Journey: Elements

Messaging preferred over all other channels

Text is the most used form of communication for American adults under 50.

89% adults would rather chat a business for support than call.

#1 preferred method of any communications with a business

Building Your Stewardship Plan: Measurement

Short Term

• Engagement Metrics

• Opens

• Connects

• View

Medium Term• Retention

• Upgrades

Long Term• Increase LTV

• Bequest Intentions

Example: New York Public Library

• Complex matrix of communications: members, card-holders, advocates, program attendees, and more

• For Friends program: Managed touchpoints• Baseline communications calendar includes stewardship touch points

between asks

OCTOBERSolicitation

NOV:Event

MID-OCTInvitation

LATE NOV:Email with

Photos

DECEMBERSolicitation

Gift + Ack

Cornell Case Study: Building a Pilot Plan

• Cornell Lab of Ornithology: Even more complex!

• Lots of different audiences, offers and and communications flow• Members, Donors, Citizen Scientists, Purchasers, Subscribers

• Working towards a database of record

• Working towards a comprehensive communications calendar

• Lack of these elements doesn’t get in the way of stewardship• Can manage within the workflow of Membership and Annual Giving

Cornell Lab: Midlevel Stewardship

• Lots of Major and Lower dollar donors

• Focus on the “Skinny middle”: Golden-wing Society ($1,000-10,000)• Growth through $1,000 ask on acquisition as well

as upgrade efforts

• Developed a hybrid communications flow including direct mail and development techniques.

• Goals:• Call all GWS members each year

• Develop an understanding of our member composite: who they are, what they want, why they love us

Quick Tips: Stewardship Moments• Donor call-a-thon: thank yous; informal feedback survey

• Donor cards: for birthdays; for milestones, for loyalty

• Personal touch: drive for one personal touch for the core donors in programs annually; use digital tools to create the feeling of personal interaction.

• Interview a donor each month for testimonials, profiles, etc.

• Create a Donor appreciation day on social media

• Customize your confirmations and acknowledgments; donor welcome package/communications

• Use video: create a thank-you video, story video donor profile, etc.

Example: Binoculars Giveaway Cultivation

Case Study: Who Needs Stewardship?

From The Agitator

• Organization A. This international relief organization randomized their new donors to one of three conditions:

• No additional no-ask cultivation touches

• Six additional no-ask cultivation touches

• 12 additional no-ask cultivation touches

Results?

Highly committed donors – the ones we all really want to retain – had their retention drop by nine points when they got six additional touches. They were already convinced and didn’t need to be sold.

Less committed donors needed the extra touches – the six additional communications meant a 12-percent increase in retention.

http://www.theagitator.net/uncategorized/volume-has-been-tested-the-results-are-in/

Credit: DonorVoice:www.thedonorvoice.com

Conclusion and Discussion:• Some concluding thoughts:

• There are best practices, but no one right way to do this!

• Both are essential elements of a donor journey:• Conversion has an immediate goal (action taking) that supports a long term one (growing

investment)

• Over time, stewardship also seeks to find out from the donor: What do you want from this relationship? What do you need?

• What your donors tell you is critical to success

• Creating journey(s) for your donors is the first step:• Execute

• Evaluate

• Test

• Refine

Thank you!

Selected Resources

• Donorrelationsguru.com

• adrp.net

Donor Journeys: Build Your Own• Identify your goal

• Focus on the right Audience:• Identify pilot segments for stewardship

• Baseline plan for those outside the bullseye

• As you learn more about the donors and what influences them, customization improves

• Define points of interaction• Engagements and their gatekeepers• Data capture and reporting

• Types of interaction: Engagement, Transaction, Communication• Talking to your donors: How to ask so they will listen, and share• Triggering events

• What does the current journey look like for your pilot segments?• Onboarding: Intentional process or scattershot?• What does data tell you is influential the journey? • Who controls the processes?

• Define key metrics for success, and track them

• Assess, refine and expand your plan