Nonprofits get 30% or more of their individual donations for the year in December, so how can you be sure to get your piece of the pie? In this session, I shared ten steps you can take to plan a year-end fundraising campaign that celebrates your donor's support, catches her eye, tugs on her heartstrings, and seals the deal to ensure a generous gift. Through a detailed case study of the 2015 year-end fundraising campaign for Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy, we examined best practices you can follow to be sure your 2016 year-end campaign is your best ever.

1. bigducknyc.com
10 Steps to Making Your
Donor the Hero With Your
Year-end Campaign
#501TechNYC

3. Vice President, Big Duck
@Farra
@BigDuck
#501TechNYC
Farra Trompeter
#501TechNYC

4. What we’ll cover today
• Making donors heroes and why it matters!
• What this looks like in action
• 10 ways to make your donor the hero
• Resources
#501TechNYC

5. Making your donor
the hero

6. Insert pic of marvel
We’re not the first ones to
recognize the appeal of a
good hero.

7. From Winning the Story Wars by Jonah Sachs/ Free Range Studios

8. But how you tell your hero’s
story could be the difference
between phenom…

9. And flop (sorry, Ben baby)…

10. But fear not, there’s an
awesome goal that
makes your quest
worth it.

11. POLL: What % of dollars from donors
did you receive in December?
• 10%
• 30%
• 50%
• 85%
• Not sure
#501TechNYC

12. Source: Network for Good, http://www.networkforgood.com/digitalgivingindex/

13. The big bad that
stands in your way

14. http://upload.wikimedia.org/
Unless you
defeat low
donor-retention
rates, you may
not earn as
many year-end
gifts.

16. Treating your donor like a hero
can save year-end season
• Your best prospects (donors!) will feel
celebrated, important, and more likely to
give again
• Donors will see the dramatic appeal and
importance of your mission
• Donors can understand their role and feel
part of the team
#501TechNYC

17. So how can you build
the kind of year-end
hero story that breaks
records and inspires
a sequel?

18. Case Study

19. #501TechNYC

20. Year-end ‘15, PPMD…
• Anticipating approval of two drugs that
would benefit a small percentage of
families
• Was expecting to fund research that
holds promise for every family
• Guided by PPMD’s role as the strength
of the Duchenne community
#501TechNYC

21. The theme

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26. Campaign calendar
• Direct mail – 1 package in early Dec
• Email – 9 messages late Nov-early Jan
– 1 Thanksgiving email, campaign intro
– 7 appeals with match offer (incl 3 emails on last week of
the year)
– 1 campaign report-back & thank you
• Social media – Five/week Facebook and Twitter
posts over the course of the campaign
• Lightbox and homepage slide live throughout
campaign
• #GivingTuesday
#501TechNYC

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31. 2015 results
• Total raised: $1,505,277
• Total gifts: 1,054
• Email response rate: 0.12%
(double the benchmark)
• Cost to raise a dollar: $0.20
#501TechNYC

32. #501TechNYC
How many of you celebrated
donors as heroes last year?
h"ps://media.giphy.com/media/S4efrgIUqyzIY/giphy.gif

33. Ways to make your
donor the hero of
your year-end
campaign

34. 1. Get to know your hero’s
origin story
• Who are they?
• Why do they support your work?
• What is their super power?
#501TechNYC

35. 1. Get to know your hero’s
origin story
• Who are they? They know and love
someone living with Duchenne
• Why do they support your work?
They’ve received support from the PPMD
community and have had a hand in your
accomplishments.
• What is their super power? Improving
and extending life; determination in the
face of incredible odds
#501TechNYC

36. Understand your donors
before your quest starts…
• Talk to them
– Interview donors by phone
– Ask quick questions at events
– Send out a survey
• Invite them to give feedback
• Listen!
#501TechNYC

37. “Dana”
#501TechNYC

38. 2. Use the right theme to draw
your hero into your quest
#501TechNYC
h"p://cdn.thedailybeast.com/

39. Your theme should…
• Feel like it’s a matter or life or death (or
at least have a bit of drama!)
• Be urgent and timely. It needs to be
addressed, right now.
• Relate clearly to your core mission.
• Present a role for your donor—the hero!
#501TechNYC

40. Ways to identify your theme
• Hitch a ride on
news “waves”
• Make your own news
• Relate your mission
to the holidays
• Pose a challenge
#501TechNYC

41. 3. Map your hero’s journey
#501TechNYC
h"ps://managemen?sajourney.com/

42. Elements of your story
• Problem—We need solutions to help
the whole Duchenne community
• Solution—With your support, PPMD
can fund the early-stage research we
need to help every single family
• Timeline—Thanksgiving to 12/31
• Action—Give, spread the word
• Goal—Raise $200,000
#501TechNYC

43. 4. Select the right channels
to engage your hero
• Where are they?
• Where are you?
• What will you gain
from additional
channels?
#501TechNYC

44. 5. Maximize the superpowers
of each channel
• Mail — Fundraising, expanded stories
• Email — Deadline-driven fundraising, short,
informal updates
• Established social media — Storytelling,
conversation, drive traffic to web
• New social media — Excitement, storytelling,
drive traffic to web
• Web — Online giving, other online actions,
destination for email & social media
#501TechNYC

45. 6. Make the most of opportunities
• Tie the campaign into things you’re
already doing? (events, newsletters,
email signatures, etc.)
• Ask partners to post or send a message
about your hero’s quest
• Ask public figures to lend their voice to
your campaign
• Create conversation about your mission
#501TechNYC

46. 7. Give your hero the right
“suit”—a consistent look
#501TechNYCh"ps://33.media.tumblr.com/

47. Make campaign-customized…
• Homepage slide or lightbox
• URL in direct mail appeal
• Newsletter promo
• Social media artwork
• Follow-up requests to spread the
word via social media
#501TechNYC

48. 8. Build dramatic tension, craft
your calendar around deadlines
• Timeline is roughly 6 weeks
• 1-2 direct mail appeals
• 6-8 emails
• 1-2 Facebook and Twitter posts/week
with varied content
• Increase frequency around deadline
• #GivingTuesday
#501TechNYC

49. 9. Set it up for a sequel w/ a
report-back in all channels
#501TechNYC

50. Celebrate donors’ impact

51. 10. Plan to capture & analyze
the results of your quest
#501TechNYC

52. Identify the tools to capture
these metrics:
• Open/clickthroughs/response rate
• # of donors from different sources
• Total dollars raised
• Average gift
• Donation page conversion rate
• Year-over-year change
• Cost to raise a dollar
#501TechNYC

53. h"p://mrbenchmarks.com/
Compare against self, others

54. Bonus ideas
• Send hand-written notes
• Ask board members, staff, or volunteers
to make some phone calls
• Empower donors to be fundraisers
• Explore advertising on social media
• Invite a small group of donors to give
feedback to your campaign
• Explore video, livestreaming
#501TechNYC

55. #501TechNYC
How will you turn donors into
heroes this year-end season?
h"ps://media.giphy.com/media/S4efrgIUqyzIY/giphy.gif

56. #501TechNYC
Don’t wait till year-end!
h"p://www.franksonnenbergonline.com/blog/trust-me-27-ways-to-build-trust-and-credibility/

57. Have no fear…
h"p://castabigger.net/

58. Big Duck is here for you!
• July 19: “What's hot in year-end
fundraising” (webinar)
• September 16: “Planning your year-
end fundraising campaign” (immersive
workshop)
• Limited availability for full campaign
strategy and implementation
http://www.bigducknyc.com/workshops
#501TechNYC

59. Questions?

60. Favor… Take this survey!
http://bit.ly/npcommteam

61. Resources

62. Posts
• Blog: www.bigducknyc.com/blog
– “The key to great fundraising? Your brand.”
– “Five high-value ways to help prep for next
year-end fundraising season”
– “So, THAT happened…Reflections on
December online fundraising campaigns”
– “A great year for #GivingTuesday”
– Quick tips for writing effective year-end
emails”
#501TechNYC

63. Research
• M+R Benchmarks: http://mrbenchmarks.com/
• Blackbaud: Show the Love [eBook]
http://bit.ly/npexperts-2014-npengage-launch
• Fundraising Effectiveness Project
http://afpfep.org/
• NTEN: Nonprofit Donor Engagement Benchmark
Study
http://www.nonprofitdonorengagement.com/
CD_Nten_BenchmarkReport_Final.pdf
• Urban Institute: Donor Retention Matters
http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/412731-Donor-
Retention-Matters.pdf
#501TechNYC

64. #501TechNYC
More questions? Let me know.
Farra Trompeter
Big Duck
www.bigducknyc.com
(718) 705-8092
farra@bigducknyc.com

65. Thank you