Additional Gifts Make the Fundraising Hill Easier to Climb
Having your membership program firing on all cylinders creates an easier path to reaching and surpassing annual fiscal year goals. When you ask for and receive Additional Gifts through various channels, that mitigates potential shortfalls in other campaigns.
Nearly all public media stations send Additional Gift mail towards the end of the calendar year. How many more Additional Gift mailings does your station send annually? One at the end of the fiscal year? CDP’s best practices research resulted in recommendations for a total of four, based on a July–June fiscal year:
August (Annual Fund)
December (Calendar Year End)
April (Member Challenge)
June (Fiscal Year End)
BUDGETING
I have heard from some station reps that it’s difficult to include more than one or two Additional Gift mailings in the budget, the rationale for which is that the station can get those gifts during on-air pledge campaigns.
My argument is that pledge drives can amplify the mail campaigns, making both stronger. In addition, CDP recommends—and includes in every one of our CDP Direct Additional Gift campaigns—a complementary email series, which can increase conversion rates as much as 50%.
Relying on pledge drives to generates a good percentage of Additional Gifts because the airtime is “free” assumes that the universe of potential donors is large and engaged. That may be true of your most loyal audience members, but it’s not as large as your active & lapsed file, which can be tapped for Additional Gifts via mail and email.
MIDLEVEL, MAJOR & PLANNED GIVING
Additional Gifts not only add to the bottom line, but they telegraph something about donor behavior and preferences.
What does it say that a donor responds to a renewal letter, makes a gift during one or two pledge drives each year, and responds to Additional Gift mail or e-mail all in the same year? It says she wants to be more than a friend of the station—she is declaring her love. Has your team identified donors of multiple gifts to approach about joining the Leadership Circle or considering a planned gift?
If there is no time in your current schedule to do that, CDP can free up time by managing your Additional Gift and all other cyclical mail activities through CDP Direct. If you haven’t received an invitation from us to join this fall’s super-affordable Calendar Year-End mailing, contact us, and we can show you how to take part!