1. Geoff Handy, Humane Society of the United
States
Sheetal Persaud, hjc
#bridgeconf

2.  Why advocacy is powerful for fundraising
 Strategies for:
◦ Recruiting and cultivating advocates
◦ Converting advocates into donors

3. The opportunity
3

4. Non-donors who’d taken action online were 2.3x more likely to donate
than non-donors in the email file who hadn’t
4

5. Source: Charitable Memberships, Volunteering and Discounts: Evidence from a Large-Scale Online Field
Experiment. May 2009, National Bureau of Economic Research, A. Lange, A. Stocking.
5

6.  “Advocates will donate. Donors will take
action.”

7. All HSUS Online
Donors
Have acted
62%
Have not
38%

8. Have acted
85%
Have
not
15%

9.  Both are valid ways to help any cause
 Advocacy actions, and advocacy victories,
“prime the pump” for appeals
◦ They tie mission and giving together
◦ They enable the motivated advocate to take another
step
9

10. Source: Convio, 2002
10

12.  Test various channels and strategies
◦ Organic (e.g., tell a friend)
◦ Social media and mobile
◦ Events
◦ Paid
 Capture the right information
We’ll also talk about how non-advocacy
focused organizations can acquire advocates

15. 90,000
letters
mailed

17.  If you can find high quality lists – paid
acquisition of advocates can pay off
 Multiple benefits
◦ list growth
◦ prospect recruitment
◦ branding
◦ advocacy

18.  Care2, change.org
 Facebook ads
 Google ads/adwords
 Email list rental
 Online display advertising

20.  At least get:
◦ First Name, Last Name Can at least do an append on
◦ Email +permission this data for address/phone
(US only)
◦ Zip
 Try for
◦ Phone (make it optional)
◦ Full address

21.  Advocacy has a fairly wide definition. It can be a
non-political engagement activity too, e.g.:
◦ Pledges
◦ Messages of support
◦ Thank you’s
 It does not mean you need to re-characterize
your organization if you are a 501(c)(3) or
registered charity

25.  Ask early in the relationship
 Tie your ask to the advocacy action, ideally
 Ask for a lower donation amount if advocate
doesn’t respond to traditional ask amount
 Ask through multiple channels

27.  Option 1: Ask immediately
◦ Take Action  Tell a Friend  Donate
◦ Take Action  Donate
◦ Take Action  Choice of options
27

28. 28

29. 29

30. 30

31. 31

32.  Option 1: Ask immediately
◦ Take Action  Tell a Friend  Donate
◦ Take Action  Donate
◦ Take Action  Choice of options
32

33. 33

34. 34

37.  Option 1: Ask immediately
◦ Take Action  Tell a Friend  Donate
◦ Take Action  Donate
◦ Take Action  Choice of options
37

38. $6,415 came from the
thank you page and
email
12% of total campaign
revenue!
1.85% conversion rate
$30.99 average gift
(ask was $25)

39.  Option 2: Ask within days
◦ Email Welcome Series
 Generic
 Tailored to the action they joined on
◦ Follow-up Action
 Take 2nd Action  Donate
◦ Follow-up Appeal
 The one-timemonthly one-two punch
39

40. 40

41. 41

42. 42

43.  Option 2: Ask within days
◦ Email Welcome Series
 Generic
 Tailored to the action they joined on
◦ Follow-up Action
 Take 2nd Action  Donate
◦ Follow-up Appeal
 The one-timemonthly one-two punch
43

44.  Option 2: Ask within days
◦ Email Welcome Series
 Generic
 Tailored to the action they joined on
◦ Follow-up Action
 Take 2nd Action  Donate
◦ Follow-up Appeal
 The one-timemonthly one-two punch
44

45. 45

46. 46

47. Group 1
Day 12
Monthly ask
DAY 2 DAY 5 DAY 10 Group 2
Welcome Action Survey Day 18
email number 2 + email Monthly ask
donation ask
Group 3
Day 25
Monthly ask

48. % %
List Users Donors Sustainers
Group 1 3092 0.36% 0.16%
Group 2 3097 0.29% 0.06%
Group 3 3088 0.29% 0%
TOTAL 9277 0.31% 0.11%

49.  Serve as an engagement device
 Help you understand the
motivation/demographic of the audience
◦ Collect more information
 Serve as a great springboard to ask for
donations

50.  Ask early in the relationship
 Tie your ask to the advocacy action, ideally
 Ask for a lower donation amount if advocate
doesn’t respond to traditional ask amount
 Ask through multiple channels

51.  For large buckets of newly acquired advocates,
try a dedicated welcome series based on the
issue they joined on
◦ Can include monthly giving, one-time giving, micro-
donation asks, and peer to peer invitations
 Group advocates into issue-oriented groups, and
segment your appeals to drive response over
time
 Use transitional language to move advocates into
your “regular” communication/appeal stream
51

52.  For large buckets of newly acquired advocates,
try a dedicated welcome series based on the
issue they joined on
◦ Can include monthly giving, one-time giving, micro-
donation asks, and peer to peer invitations
 Group advocates into issue-oriented groups, and
segment your appeals to drive response over
time
 Use transitional language to move advocates into
your “regular” communication/appeal stream
52

53.  Sent to 192,000 “horse responders”
◦ This group includes all who have taken action on
horse-related issues
 Content focused on wildfires’ impact on
horses
53

54. 54

55.  Results:
◦ Sent to 192,000
◦ Open rate: 25.3%
 Average disaster appeal open rate: 8.5-12.5%
◦ Donation rate: 0.66%
 Average disaster appeal donation rate: 0.04-0.05%
◦ Raised $94,000 from 1,413 donors
55

56.  For large buckets of newly acquired advocates,
try a dedicated welcome series based on the
issue they joined on
◦ Can include monthly giving, one-time giving, micro-
donation asks, and peer to peer invitations
 Group advocates into issue-oriented groups, and
segment your appeals to drive response over
time
 Use transitional language to move advocates into
your “regular” communication/appeal stream
56

57.  Example for people who joined through our
Spay Day photo contest:
◦ “Thank you for participating in the Spay Day Pet
Photo Contest! We are thrilled that you have chosen
to join our community - here's how you can help
more animals today.”
57

58.  Ask early in the relationship
 Tie your ask to the advocacy action, ideally
 Ask for a lower donation amount if advocate
doesn’t respond to traditional ask amount
 Ask through multiple channels

61.  Three emails sent to 1.04 million advocates
who had not donated in previous 24 months
 3,380 donations totaling $141,500
◦ Avg. gift > $40
◦ Gift range $5 - $500
◦ Donation participation rate:

62.  Ask early in the relationship
 Tie your ask to the advocacy action, ideally
 Ask for a lower donation amount if advocate
doesn’t respond to traditional ask amount
 Ask through multiple channels

64.  Email and web asks can get you so far...
 To secure higher rates of conversion, bring
other channels into the mix
 These usually perform much better than
prospecting files

65. 3.24% direct mail response rate
$59 direct mail average gift
Average response on prospecting packages 0.30%

66. 66

67.  If you are testing advocate lists in direct mail,
pick segments that have:
◦ Voluntarily given a full address
◦ Taken additional action (e.g., made comments)
◦ Have taken action recently

68.  Best way to secure monthly gifts
 Can cost-effectively link scripts with online
behavior
 Can cost-effectively link calling windows with
online outreach
 Can convert advocates who haven’t made a
donation online

69.  Up-front costs
 External vendor(s) plus staff time to hire,
manage
 Training of call center staff or volunteers
 Technology (donation processing, managing
data)
69

70.  Email welcome series followed by phone call
6-8 weeks after action
Monthly Avg. OTG Avg. Cost per
Response Monthly Response Gift Monthly
Rate Gift Rate
4.6% $16.40 2.5% $34.40 $296

71. Costs per monthly donor (primarily DRTV
driven) :
1998 - $80 2008 - $300

72. 18.50%
20%
18%
Recent Lapsed Monthly
16%
Donor
14% 11% Online Petition Only
12%
9%
8% E-newsletter Subscriber
10%
8%
Long Lapsed Montlhly
6% Donor
4%
2%
0%
72

73.  1000 phone calls – 74 monthly donors giving
$9.66 every month
73

74.  Goal: Convert online one-time donors and
advocate non-donors into monthly sustainers
 Process:
◦ Newly acquired online names were first invited by
email to become monthly donors
◦ Then we called them. Callers were segmented by
the campaign on which they joined
74

75. RESULTS
Campaign # Contacted % Converted Breakeven Point
(in months)
Factory Farming 309 14.2% 5.8
Animal Fighting 1,028 11.3% 7.6
Seals/Fur 558 16.4% 6.5
Puppy Mills 946 18.0% 5.6
All Issues/General 9,043 9.2% 9.6

76.  Conversion doesn’t always happen right away
 Key is to keep them active with ongoing
communication

77.  When acquiring advocates:
◦ Collect enough information
◦ Acquire in multiple ways
◦ Remember: Advocacy does not always need to be
political/policy oriented
77

78.  Ask quickly
◦ Make the ask part of the action
◦ Make it high profile
◦ Follow up with an email welcome series with an ask
as part of the emails
78

79.  Relate the ask to the action
◦ What brought this person to you? So what might
motivate them to give?
79

80.  When using direct mail to convert:
◦ Integrate with advocacy
◦ Test a campaign update
◦ Mail as soon as possible after the advocacy action
80

81.  When using telemarketing to convert:
◦ Push for monthly giving
◦ Refine your scripts with your best lists
◦ Call people as soon as possible after the advocacy
action
81

82. Don’t forget to visit the
Solutions Showcase!
Many of the ideas discussed today are
on display at the Solutions Showcase!
#bridgeconf