Mar/Apr 2010

Make the Right Ask, to the Right Donor, at the Right Time

by Tompkins Spann, Senior Market Strategist, Convio

With all of the fantastic innovation happening online and attention given to new tactics with mobile and social networking, it’s sometimes easy to overlook the true workhorse tool of the development team, direct mail.

It's no secret that direct mail still delivers the bulk of support for nonprofits today, but according to the new research “The Next Generation of American Giving,” direct mail will not be the dominant channel for soliciting and collecting gifts for the younger generations. It turns out, the key to success is mixing channels to create integrated campaigns, using a combination of proven tactics with postal mail and email with the new kids on the block – social and mobile. This shared wisdom applies to large and small nonprofits alike.

With this in mind, we’ve just released the latest version of Common Ground, with several new direct marketing features that organizations of nearly any size will enjoy. Built for fundraisers, Common Ground now allows you to easily build integrated direct marketing campaigns with multiple appeals and targeted segments, so you can make the right ask, to the right donor, at the right time, regardless of channel.  And with Common Ground, you can plan and set your campaign budgets, then track results at both the macro and micro level to analyze your campaign ROI.

Below are three key areas where Common Ground has been enhanced to support direct marketing.

Multi-part hierarchical campaigns – As boring as it may seem, the key ingredient to measuring direct marketing success is structure. In order for a nonprofit to measure campaign performance year over year, or one appeal versus another appeal, they must have a codified campaign structure that supports an evolving hierarchy. Common Ground now supports this best practice and allows the nonprofit to organize their campaigns according to their rules, and provides step-by-step guidance to help.

Fundraiser-friendly segmentation – Not everyone understands boolean logic or has the intimate field-level knowledge of their database necessary to create SQL queries. For this reason, we developed segmentation tools that fundraisers will appreciate. They use a mad lib style to help define target criteria. Now, fundraisers can define criteria that looks like this:

Contacts who have a(n) Board Member classification
AND have given at least $500 in total donations between 1/1/2009 and 12/31/2009
AND have not given 1 time between 1/1/2010 and 3/15/2010.

Campaign performance analysis – With the analysis tools built in to Common Ground, executives and fundraisers will always have instant access to the latest information. Need to see an up to the minute breakdown of gifts by segment or appeal? No problem. Looking for a rollup of campaigns over time and comparing specific snapshots? Can do. Want to get that report automatically emailed to you and other staff members? Piece of cake. Would you like to be emailed the moment your campaign reaches an important milestone or a particular gift is received? That one’s easy too.

The result? Nonprofits now have a fully integrated donor and constituent relationship management (CRM) solution that supports direct marketing strategies of all kinds.  Even better, there’s no software to install, no code or byzantine rules to learn and whether your nonprofit has two or 2,000 staff, Common Ground can fit your needs.