April 2014 Let's Kill the Annual Fund Presented by: Jeff Schreifels, Veritus Group

What do you do once per year? And the Annual Fund…

How did this happen?

What should we do? Kill the Annual Fund Five Reasons Why

Kill the Annual Fund 1.Donors have more than one gift in them 2.Gets you out of the mindset that you only need one gift 3.You’ll focus more on donors and how to match them up with projects and programs 4.You’ll end up with higher retention rates 5.You’ll have MORE revenue

Transition to Donor-Centered Remember that donors have life 1.The more you ask the more a donor gives 2.If you have a compelling offer donors will respond 3.Annual fund conveys to the donor they only need to give once per year

You have amazing programs

Have YOU bought in? Where is your head and heart on asking?

One Year Tracking Study A Skeptical Development Development Director 1.Client was skeptical to communicate “way too much.” 2.With mail, and newsletters and “other communication” there were 40 touches, 75% of them were direct asks. 3.Devised an 18 panel communication tracking test for new donors coming on to the file.

One Year Tracking Study The Test Configuration 1.Used 40, 30, 20 communication pieces 2.Intensity level, 75%, 50% 25% direct asks 3.Welcome Series direct ask vs. just thank you’s 4.We tracked revenue, retention rates, gifts per donor and ROI.

Have YOU bought in? Results The top producing test panels (3 of them) were the panels that each had 40 communication pieces and 75% intensity levels. One more important piece of information…

One Year Tracking Study A Donor Survey To Check Donor Attitude The client sent out a donor survey to see if donors were upset with the amount of communication they were receiving. There was no difference in donor reaction with 40 communications and 75% intensity and 20 communications with 25% intensity. Yes, Donors have life…

Everything you do is about… WinRetainUpgrade

Do you know your performance? Do you know the metrics of your program? -Gifts per donor -Average Gift -Retention rate -Revenue per donor

Do you know your performance? Are you tracking? - New Donors -2 nd year from New -Core Donors -Lapsed Donors -Deeply Lapsed Donors

Do you know your performance? Are you paying special attention to: -Mid-Level Donors -Major Gift Donors Get this stuff. Don’t just rely on your direct-response partner YOU need to know this stuff.

Do you know the Vision? 1.Where do you want to be in 5 years with your donor file? 2.Do you know what it will take to get there? 3.What kind of performance do you need from your regular, mid-level and major donors? 4.If you need to increase retention rates and gifts per donor how are you going to do it?

What’s it going to take? 1.Bold Leadership 2.Investment 3.Creativity 4.Breaking barriers 5.A commitment to donors 6.A culture of Philanthropy

Q and A Questions?

1. Passionate Giving Blog 2. White Papers from Veritus Group  Packaging Your Budget For Donors  Seven Pillars of a Major Gift Program  Building a Culture of Philanthropy  Six Secrets to Becoming an Extraordinary Major Gift Officer  Qualifying Donors for Major Gift Caseloads  Social Networking and Major Gifts  Transporting Your Donor To The Scene 3. Marketing Impact Chart Template Three Resources

It’s not only about the money… Veritusgroup.com t.