1. It’s a Science, no it’s an Art; Actually it’s both
Part 1: The Science of Peer-to-Peer Fundraising
PRESENTED BY AMY BRAITERMAN AND JENNIFER ASHBAUGH
1

2. WELCOME TO OUR LAB
Amy Braiterman
Principal Strategy Consultant
Blackbaud
Jennifer Ashbaugh
Big Brother Big Sisters of America
2

3. WHY IS SCIENCE COOL?
Problem
Investigate
3
Solutions!

4. SCIENTIFIC PROCESS
4

5. PURPOSE: STATING THE PROBLEM
PROBLEM:
Year over year retention
is low
5

6. RESEARCH: WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT RETENTION?
Notes: Revenue
didn’t go down as
much as the people.
The people we’re
bring back are more
successful
6

7. RESEARCH: WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT RETENTION?
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8. RESEARCH: WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT RETENTION?
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9. RESEARCH: WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT RETENTION?
Participant Migration
9

10. RESEARCH: WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT RETENTION?
Percent of Participants and Revenue by Loyalty
Percent of Participants and Revenue by Loyalty
Loyalty CY
% of CY Participants by Loyalty
New
MultiYear
% of CY Revenue by Loyalty
64%
36%
47%
53%
10

11. RESEARCH: WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT RETENTION?
Revenue per Participant
Notes: multi-year
more successful.
How are we
communicating
to past
participants?
Gifts per Participant
11

12. WOW! THAT WAS A LOT; LET’S REVIEW
Retention: Under Official Review
• Participant types provided clearer
picture of retention
- Team leader, team member and individuals
• Revenue did not go down as much as
the participants
- We’re not bring back as many people,
but the participants we are bring back
are more successful
• Multi-year participants are more successful
than new participants
• While multi-year participants are more successful they
have challenges maintaining their high fundraising level
12

13. HYPOTHESIS: PREDICTING THE OUTCOME
HYPOTHESIS:
To solve year over year retention
focus on team leaders.
13

14. If I look at the mass, I
will never act. If I look at
the one, I will”
Mother Teresa #BBInteractive
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15. WHY DID WE MAKE THIS HYPOTHESIS?
Team Leaders – Bring Team Members
9% of Participants
20% of Revenue
57% of Participants
43% of Revenue
We believe team leader’s
Team Members – impact.
make biggestBring Donors
Donors
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16. Here’s where we have
some fun!
It’s time to Experiment!
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17. WHAT DID I LEARN FROM MY RESEARCH?
ATTEND FOLLOW UP SESSION:
Part II: The Art of Peer-to-Peer
Fundraising; Cultivating P2P
Participants
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18. IMPROVE TEAM LEADER RETENTION
• It starts with year round
communication
- Just because the event is over doesn’t
mean you stop communicating
• Make it personal – combinations of
online and offline engagement
• Ask team leaders to be on your
event committee
• Involve team leaders in mission
activities
- Send them information on educational
& program activities
• Your entire relationship doesn’t
have to be about fundraising
18

19. PURPOSE: STATING THE PROBLEM
PROBLEM:
Decline in use of online tools and
online activity
19

20. RESEARCH: WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT USE OF
ONLINE TOOLS?
33%
32%
31%
30%
29%
28%
27%
Online Participants with 1+ Online Gift
20

21. RESEARCH: WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT USE OF
ONLINE TOOLS?
$90.00
$80.00
$70.00
$60.00
$50.00
$40.00
$30.00
$20.00
$10.00
$0.00
Online Donation Per Online Registrant
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22. RESEARCH: WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT USE OF
ONLINE TOOLS?
18%
17%
17%
16%
16%
15%
15%
14%
14%
13%
Percentage of Participants Sending Emails
22

23. HYPOTHESIS: PREDICTING THE OUTCOME
HYPOTHESIS:
To improve use of online tools we
need to focus on segments.
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24. RESEARCH: WHAT SEGMENTS SHOULD WE FOCUS ON?
Zero Online
Gifts
1-4 Online
Gifts
Fundraisers vs.
5+ Online
Gifts
Leaders
7% - Participants
0% - Revenue
Leaders
6% - Participants
10%- Revenue
Avg raise:$129.63
Leaders
3% - Participants
27% - Revenue
Avg raise:$724.53
Non-Leaders
53% - Participants
0% - Revenue
Non- Leaders
27% - Participants
34% - Revenue
Avg raise:$ 85.00
Non- Leaders
3% - Participants
28% - Revenue
Avg raise:$506.86
Non-Fundraising Participants
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25. Here’s where we have
some fun!
It’s time do aExperiment!
to little more research
Wait… Let’s
first. What are the segments?
25

26. EXPERIMENT: ONLINE DONATION AMOUNT PER
ONLINE PARTICIPANT
$90.00
$80.00
$70.00
$60.00
$50.00
$40.00
$30.00
$20.00
$10.00
$0.00
All Participants $70.00
1-4 Online Gifts
5+ Online Gifts
Team Leader
$129.63
724.53
Non-Leaders
$85.00
506.86
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27. EXPERIMENT: NUMBER OF ONLINE GIFTS PER ONLINE
PARTICIPANT
1.55
1.50
1.45
1.40
1.35
1.30
1.25
All Participants 1.35
1-4 Online Gifts
5+ Online Gifts
Team Leader
2.02
11.62
Non-Leaders
1.56
8.97
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28. EXPERIMENT: PERCENTAGE OF PARTICIPANTS
SENDING EMAILS
18%
17%
17%
16%
16%
15%
15%
14%
14%
13%
Sending Emails (All Participants 14%)
0 Online Gifts
1-4 Online Gifts
5+ Online Gifts
Team Leader
14%
45%
70%
Non-Leaders
2.2%
18%
65%
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29. EMAILS SENT PER PARTICIPANT
30
25.51
25
25.94
21.9
21.38
20
15
10
5
0
Number of Emails Sent : 25.94
0 Online Gifts
1-4 Online Gifts
5+ Online Gifts
Team Leader
12.2
19.3
51.2
Non-Leaders
6.8
10.1
27.9
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30. EXPERIMENT: PERCENTAGE OF PARTICIPANTS
CHANGING PERSONAL PAGE
No online
activity: $29.34
18%
16%
14%
12%
10%
8%
6%
4%
2%
0%
Personalizing Page: Average Raised = $294.27
0 Online Gifts
1-4 Online Gifts
5+ Online Gifts
Team Leader
10.9%
21.4%
44.4%
Non-Leaders
1.6%
9.3%
25.5%
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31. ANALYSIS: WHAT DID WE LEARN FROM OUR
EXPERIMENT?
• Segments are awesome because it
provides more details on participant
online activity
• Identify people who doing something
and helping them do it better
- Move 1-4 fundraisers to
Superstar status 5+ online gifts
• Create communications plans based
on activity
- Follow up with people who
are taking action, but not
raising money
- Send people friendly reminders
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Identify P2P
fundraisers who are
doing something and
help them do it better.
#BBInteractive

32. ANALYSIS: WHAT DID WE LEARN FROM OUR
EXPERIMENT?
• Push participants to take actions –
remind them of their options
- Tell them why! We’re not asking to
raise money – we’re telling them why
they want to raise money
- Change the message from raise $100
– to… do this!
- Focus on the WHY; then participants
how to do something
• Give them permission to do extra
things… they need someone to push
them to follow up
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Give P2P fundraisers
permission or a
reminder to do more
online activities
#BBInteractive

33. PURPOSE: STATING THE PROBLEM
PROBLEM:
Where do I start?
33

34. PURPOSE: STATING THE PROBLEM
HYPOTHESIS:
Asking participants questions
can provide insights to help
get started
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35. RESEARCH & EXPERIMENT
What did Big Brothers Big Sisters do?
• To learn more about donors and participants, we
worked with 9 agencies on a survey.
• In May, we went out a survey to over 6,000 donors,
participants, and team captains and got just over
1,000 responses.
What was Big Brothers Big Sisters looking for?
• How or if any did our Bowl for Kids Sake redesign
affect our participants?
• Why are you participating?
• How are you participating?
• Did you know how Big Brothers Big Sisters is
making a difference?
- This was important to help us improve our
communication strategy.
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36. RESEARCH & EXPERIMENT
36

37. WHEN YOU SIGN UP; WAS IT CLEAR THAT THE PURPOSE OF
THE EVENT WAS TO RAISE MONEY TO SUPPORT BIG
BROTHERS BIG SISTERS?
100%
2
1
1
99%
98%
10
97%
25
15
96%
95%
94%
481
93%
587
227
92%
454
227
91%
Answered
90%
Overall
Completely clear
Bowlers
Team Captains
Somewhat clear
37
Unclear
Skipped

38. WHAT WAS THE PRIMARY REASON YOU RAISED MONEY?
100%
90%
20
8
12
27
36
80%
70%
112
9
4
12
11
4
0
7
20
22
36
14
53
59
558
60%
Yes
50%
No
40%
30%
342
182
160
20%
508
557
10%
0%
Overall
Bowlers
It's a good cause
Benefit the local community
BBBS made it clear I was supposed to fundraise
My work asked me to
My friend / family asked me to
To earn an incentive or prize
38
Team Captains
Answered
Skipped

39. DID YOU SEND EMAILS THROUGH THE BOWL FOR KIDS'
SAKE WEBSITE?
100%
10
19
218
151
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
231
263
491
577
20%
10%
Answered
0%
2012 Survey
Yes
No
2011 Survey
Unsure / I do not remember
39
Skipped

40. DID YOU USE THE BOWL FOR KIDS' SAKE WEBSITE TO
POST MESSAGES TO FACEBOOK OR TWITTER?
100%
9
21
90%
80%
70%
329
60%
293
50%
40%
30%
487
20%
581
149
87
10%
0%
2012 Survey
Yes
No
2011 Survey
Unsure / I do not remember
40
Answered
Skipped

41. WHY DID YOU CHOOSE TO USE THE BFKS WEBSITE TO
POST TO FACEBOOK AND / OR TWITTER?
Please rank all that apply with 1 being the primary reason.
9
2%
I was asked to
9
6
14
70
149
31%
329
67%
I wanted to raise as much
awareness as possible for
Big Brothers Big Sisters
80
27
7 5
Yes
I wanted to share my story
11
27
49
No
22
147
921
It was easy
39
51
21
4
Answered
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%100%
1
Unsure
2
3
4
41
Skipped

42. HOW OFTEN DID YOU LOGIN TO YOUR PERSONAL PAGE?
100%
24
49
90%
80%
70%
267
207
60%
50%
40%
30%
485
151
113
20%
583
10%
43
32
2012 Survey
2011 Survey
Answered
0%
Once
2 - 3 times
More than 4 times
Unsure / I do not remember
42
Skipped

43. HOW DID YOU DETERMINE WHAT AMOUNT TO DONATE TO
BOWL FOR KIDS' SAKE?
100%
36
6
30
90%
80%
70%
128
347
60%
219
50%
40%
30%
12
20%
6
20
77
6
57
10%
64
83
513
19
0%
Overall
Participant Donor
555
Non participant Donor
My relationship with the person who asked me to donate
My relationship with BBBS
Answered
I was asked to give that amount
I gave what I could afford to give
Other
43
Skipped

44. WOULD YOU CONSIDER USING A MOBILE APP TO HELP
SUPPORT YOUR FUNDRAISING EFFORTS?
100%
90%
125
62
63
80%
70%
60%
73
164
91
50%
40%
477
30%
20%
591
105
188
83
Answered
10%
0%
Overall
Bowlers
Yes
No
Team Captains
Maybe
44
Skipped

45. IF YOU PARTICIPATE IN BOWL FOR KIDS' SAKE IN THE
FUTURE, WHAT METHODS WOULD YOU USE TO RAISE
MONEY FOR BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS?
100%
90%
264
122
142
371
175
196
113
48
65
182
80
102
349
161
188
Overall
Bowlers
Team Captains
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
477
591
30%
20%
10%
0%
Face to face
Phone
Text
E-Mail
45
Social Media
Answered
Skipped

46. 400
PLEASE CHECK ALL THAT APPLY IF YOU ARE A CURRENT /
FORMER/ FRIEND OR FAMILY MEMBER OF THE
FOLLOWING:
350
300
150
250
200
64
150
50
100
45
153
60
50
11
17
435
74
15
11
0
Big
Current
48
Little
Board Member
Former
633
Staff
Friend of Family member
46
Answered
Skipped

47. WOW! THAT’S A LOT OF DATA… WHAT ARE YOU GOING
TO DO?
Clearly, our participants are multi-channel
• Give them a variety of opportunities to get the word out:
- E-mail
- Social
- Letters
-Phone calls
- Texts
It’s even clearer, they do this because they want to, not
because someone makes them
• Reframe how we ask them
- Tone down the “Send e-mail, send e-mails, send e-mails”
- Replace with, “Want to raise as much awareness as possible?
- Repeat their words back to them, “It was easy” “It was simple” “My
co-workers loved the video I made”.
47

48. HOW CAN I BE A SCIENTIST?
Look for themes in your research
• Seeing a similar result in multiple places helps you identify problem
areas and outliers
Re-examine your ideas & test our theories
• Data can point out your blind spots
Be a good scientist: Test your hypothesis
• What do you want to change?
• How are you going to change it?
• How will you know if it changes?
48

49. HOW CAN I BE AN ARTIST?
Be creative
• Don’t be afraid to go outside the lines. The great ones do!
Take a calculated risk
• Don’t let data (or the lack thereof) keep you from being bold!
Put your mission front and center
• Often the science reminds us that our messages
aren’t being heard.
• Invest time and energy discerning which messages are
most powerful for each of your audiences.
49

50. TWEETERS USE HASHTAGS:
#bbcon
#bbinteractive
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