Find Your Missing Middle

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Speakers

Chris BrooksManager, Individual Giving

Share Our Strength, Inc.

Kathy SwayzePresident and Creative Director

Impact Communications

Maya MahoneyMajor Gifts Officer

Share Our Strength, Inc.

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• Middle Donors 101• Share Our Strength Case Study: Mid-tier ambassadors• Keys to mid-tier fundraising success• Key Takeaways• Questions• Drink!

Presentation Overview

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Are middle donors really missing?

Well, they’re not missing so much as neglected.

That’s terrible! Why would anyone neglect them?

Because they’re complicated and kind of annoying.

Oh.

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So, why are they so complicated and annoying?

To answer that we need to go to the donor pyramid.

No, not the donor pyramid!

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Major Donors

Middle Donors

Direct Response Donors

Yes, the donor pyramid

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Background on Share Our Strength• Founded in 1984• Launched No Kid Hungry in 2010• Ending childhood hunger through awareness, access,

and connecting families to existing programs

Background on Mid-tier• Mid-tier Donors: $1,000 - $4,999• Mostly online

Share Our Strength Case Study

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What questions did we want to answer?

How do we increase

engagement?

How do we grow revenue?

How do we build a pipeline to Major Gifts?

What can we do in addition to our current strategy?

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What assets and opportunities are there?

Emails Culinary Events News/Updates

Enthusiastic and Ambitious Staff

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Hey! What if we asked colleagues to work with a small group of donors and send them regular email

updates and invites?

On top of their full time job? Why would anybody want to do that?

Maybe we can call it professional development?

Yes, let’s do that.

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How will it work?• Keep it simple: pilot with a small group of staff (8 people)• Give staff portfolios of 10 mid-tier donors• Track the program through December so we can measure with year-end results

How will the ambassadors know what to do?• Teach staff donor engagement 101• Deliver pre-packaged email content for ambassadors to send every month• Meet with ambassadors monthly to answer questions, stay updated

What happens if the Major Gifts team wants to take a donor?• The MG team will look over the list before we assign• If any MG comes in, or any new capacity is found, we can pull them into the Major

Gifts Officer portfolio

Designing the program

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Selling the program: Approval

Professional Development

Small time commitment No added costs Approved!

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Who did we want to volunteer?• Early career, sociable, enthusiastic staff• Preferably no Associate Directors, Directors, etc.

Multi-channel recruitment:• Sent email to Development Department announcing the opportunity• Sat in on team meetings• Personal outreach – specific people we though would be interested

Getting started: Finding Ambassadors

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Where did we find our donors?• Individuals only• Must have given a $1k gift in the last two years• Not assigned to a Major Gifts Officer• Must have an email address

Getting started: Donor targeting

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Training• Individual fundraising 101• Provided talking points on donor FAQs• What can the ambassador expect from the donors?• Crafted introduction email for ambassadors

Tracking actions and results• Uploaded actions monthly to database as mass import file• Monthly check-in meeting to make sure ambassadors were sending

updates• Used pre-set query to stay updated on new gifts

How did we do it? Administration

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Update Emails• Updates delivered to ambassadors monthly• Content pulled from variety of sources• All emails pre-written by us. Ambassadors

could copy/paste or edit as they chose• Crafted occasional region-specific messages

as needed

Lift notes for DM• Included lift notes for DM appeals• Agency delivered small segment to HQ for lift

notes• Distributed cards for ambassadors to write

How did we do it? Donor Communications

ArticlesGift Acks

ProgramUpdates

Giving Tuesday Appeal

EventInvites

DM Lift Notes

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How did we keep the Ambassadors engaged?• Maintained regular schedule for meetings and email outreach

(monthly)

• Competition: Every month we acknowledged the ambassador who had “raised” the most money

• Recognition: Shout-outs and thank yous in department and All-Staff meetings

• Patience: Constant reminders that even though it might seem boring in September, November and December will get a lot more exciting

How did we do it? Engaging the staff

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Executing the program: Year End

MayJune

July

August

September

October

November

December

January

February

March April$0

$5,000

$10,000

$15,000

$20,000

$25,000

$30,000

$35,000

$40,000

Mid-Tier Ambassador Revenue by Month

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Yeah, but did it work? Overall results

Program Results Pilot Control

Records 92 253

Actions per Donor 7.4 1.3

Conversion 49.47% 41.11%

Revenue per Record $529 $410

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Yeah, but did it work? Segment Comparison

Loyal Renewal Lapsed Total0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

70.00%

Conversion Rates

Pilot Control

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Ambassador Feedback• Really easy, not time consuming• Great experience, learning about development and individual fundraising• Gave ambassadors good context for their own jobs• Most ambassadors wanted more donors

Other Feedback• One donor upgraded to a major gift as a direct result of Ambassador email• “Promoted” 2 donors to Major Gifts Officer portfolios• Senior leaders and our Executive team love the program

Qualitative Results

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What now? The case for expansion

Fundraising

Pipeline Development

Staff Experience

Professional Development

Donor Engagement

Team Building

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More staff, more donors• Recruited additional staff• Added staff from Communications and Program• Each ambassador will manage 15 donors• Total of 233 donors in 2015• Added an upgrade segment

What Now? Status update

Recruit

Train

ExecuteAnalyze

Adjust

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Are you having a different

conversation with your middle

donors?

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Describe Your Mission in Grand Terms

It’s not a work plan, it’s a grand vision

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“The world needs more creative

thinkers.The world needs more

changemakers.The world needs more

Ellington students.”

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Make Them Feel Like Family; Insiders

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“No matter where you are or what you’re doing in your life right now, I know you carry a little piece of McCombs School of Business and the University of Texas with you.”

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“As one of our most valuable supporters, we want you to be the first

to hear about this exciting initiative. And we hope to get your input as we fine tune our plans in the weeks ahead.”

“Jim and I thought it was important to invite a very small group of our special friends to hear about our vision for the

future – a future that you may have a major role in making possible for the men, women

and children we serve.”

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Use Perks• …but not too

loudly• Give them stuff,

but talk about their altruism

• Keep it mission focused

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… To show our appreciation for your generous support at this higher level, I am also able to offer you some exclusive benefits and opportunities. When you first join, we’ll send you an AARP Foundation Opportunity Builders lapel pin and certificate to identify you as a determined leader in the fight toend senior poverty.

You will also be invited to participate in “insider” briefings with Foundation leadership and other experts. And, with your permission, we’ll acknowledge your generosity by listing your name as an Opportunity Builder in the AARP Foundation annual report.

The most important reason to give, however, is the satisfaction you will feel knowing that your dollars are making a life-changing difference to struggling seniors across the country– perhaps even for someone in your own community…

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Position the Donor in Your Solution

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“Gabriel is waiting for someone to come and

take care of him. Will you be that person?

”

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“Your answers will guide me in my role as AARP Foundation

president…”

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Encouraging Donors to Reach Higher

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How will you be remembered?

The Smithsonian Institution was founded thanks to a generous gift left by James Smithson in his will. Surely he could not have imagined the impact his gift would have over time, or how the Smithsonian Institution would transform the world.

Few of us can count accomplishments on the scale of individuals like James Smithson. But each of us, in our own unique way, has an impact on the people and world around us. Through your support of the Smithsonian, you have embraced learning and discovery and helped support the world’s most renowned museum and research center.

“Few of us can count accomplishments on the scale of individuals like James Smithson. But

each of us, in our own unique way, has an

impact on the people and world around us.”

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Wrapping up

• Make them feel like insiders, like family

• Describe your mission in grand terms

• Use perks, but not too loudly

• Position the donor in your solution

• Ask donors to reach higher

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Wrapping up

• Stewarding donors is just as important as asking for money

• Just because a donor isn’t giving $5k or $25k doesn’t mean they don’t want a better relationship with you

• What assets do you have that could make a difference for your donors?

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Bring up your business card or give us your email address to get copies of the deck or to see any

additional documents/samples.

Thanks!

Questions?

Thank you!

Chris Brooks: cbrooks@strength.org

Maya Mahoney: mmahoney@strength.org

Kathy Swayze: kswayze@impactdc.com