2. Background
• In 2010-11, RG moved to the RFM
(Recency, Frequency, Monetary Value)
segmentation model.
– Resulted in 4 Donor Groups
– Engagement strategy was based on the donor
groups: G1 retained internally, more personalised
communication. Other groups shared with tele-
agencies.
• Worked extremely well in first 2 years, then
stagnated
• G2 and G3 large size groups, one size fits all
approach didn’t work
• Needed a Level 2 for RFM
3. Enter “Propensity”
• In 13-14 we partnered with Hansa Cequity for
a data driven fund raising strategy
– Donor behaviour understanding: CRY 5 year data,
identification of donor trends
– Implement a statistical model which considered
multiple variables:
– Arrive at a segmentation model based on
“Propensity to Donate”
– Donors segmented into Highly Likely/Likely/Not
Likely to donate – as per donation amount, timing
of donation and channel
Age | Gender | Pincode | City | Payment Method
Source | Frequency | Amount | Trend | Latency
4. How does it work?
• CRY sends the entire 5 year donor database to
Hansa at the start of the year.
• Hansa runs the Propensity Model on the
database and segments donors into 6 Priority
Buckets for a quarter
• The volume of data in the Priority Buckets is
arrived at basis RG resources to tele-call the data
• RG to reach out to these 6 Buckets for the
quarter and close all data by the end of the
quarter – which is then sent back to Hansa, who
runs the model again and sends the next quarter
data back to CRY
5. Value
Propensity High Medium Low
High Priority 1 Priority 2 Priority 3
Medium Priority 4 Priority 5 Priority 6
Low Last Priority
The How of Prioritization
6. Key Learnings and outcomes
Learnings:
• Data (P1 to P6) has to be consumed
completely every quarter
• Consumed = called/mailed – contact made
for a donation ask
• If data is not consumed, then it is
“opportunity lost”
Outcomes:
• An average “lift” of 2% across regions
• Clear increase in CRY Direct RR
7. Plans for 14-15
• Re-calibration of Propensity Model with
Hansa
• Deeper analysis and recommendations:
– Amount, timing and channel-wise propensity
– Migration of donors to profitable channels;
identification of donors for behavior change
– Identifying donors for the 2nd ask
9. Background
• The different analyses on performance have
indicated that donor numbers are dropping
across acquisition and retention.
• However, income is not dropping at the same
rate as a higher ADS is compensating for the
loss in donor numbers.
• Retention Rates as per RFM are growing for
some regions, but overall for RG they are
stagnant.
• This analysis aims to look at donor retention
from a YOY perspective
10. Insights - New Donors (First time)
• The no. of new, first time donors that donate
every year is reducing over the years.
• It is critical for a first time donor to make a
second donation as that sets the tone for any
further engagement. Every year, we lose 90%
of first time donors from the previous year.
• We “reacquire” 30% of lapsed donors, still
leading to a loss of 60% of donors every year!
• Interestingly, every donor who we
“reacquire” is upgrading their donation.
11. Donor Retention Spread
Hypotheses:
• Once a donor donates for the 2nd time the
retention of that donor is higher for
following years.
• Retention of donors acquired through CRY
Direct is much better than those acquired
through Face to Face
12. Donor Retention Spread
• Data generated since 10-11.
• Looked at the donors acquired in 10-11 and
the retention data of the same donors over
the next 3 years.
• For e.g. if we acquired 100 donors in 10-11, in
11-12 we retained 13. Of these, how many
continued their donation in the next year.
13. Donor Retention Spread 10-11 to 13-14
All Channels For 1011
1011 1112 1213 1314
West 18396 3116 1326 444
% retained over prev year 17% 43% 33%
South 22179 2922 1118 563
% retained over prev year 13% 38% 50%
North 33867 3645 1391 755
% retained over prev year 11% 38% 54%
EAST 3521 737 414 276
% retained over prev year 21% 56% 67%
GOPS 454 93 42 23
% retained over prev year 20% 45% 55%
All India 78417 10513 4291 2061
% retained over prev year 13% 41% 48%
14. Donor Retention Spread 11-12 to 13-14
All Channels For 1112
1011 1112 1213 1314
West 18679 3077 814
% retained over prev year 16% 26%
South 23243 2788 1092
% retained over prev year 12% 39%
North 21755 2303 907
% retained over prev year 11% 39%
EAST 7003 1261 598
% retained over prev year 18% 47%
GOPS 495 110 32
% retained over prev year 22% 29%
All India 71175 9539 3443
% retained over prev year 13% 36%
15. Revisiting the hypotheses
• The first time retention of donors (2nd donation
by the donor) is 13% in the first year, but triples
to 41% in the following year.
• CRY Direct first time donor retention is just 5%
more than the all India average of 13% (which is
largely influenced by SD).
• Retention rates stabilize to close to 45-50% in
the 3rd year
• It is not about how we acquire the donor
(FTF/Tele/CD) but what we do to engage the
donor after the first time donation that
matters.
16. Our biggest challenge is not just
donor retention, but
ensuring that every new donor
donates the 2nd time.
