HOW TO PUT THE

FUNIN YOUR ANNUAL FUND

HOW TO PUT THE

FUNIN YOUR ANNUAL FUND

… and achieve results

THIS IS HOW WE ROLL…THIS IS HOW WE ROLL…

1. What we want you to get out of today.

2. How we hope this afternoon’s session will play out.

Canisius College Annual Fund: Who We Are

Canisius College Annual Fund: Who We Are

Amy: three years in fundraising, four years in marketing, four years in public relations

Kirsten (rhymes with ear): six years in fundraising

Annual Fund: three full-time staff, one graduate assistant, two work study students, 30 call center students

Our PhilosophyOur Philosophy

The Canisius College Annual Fund implements marketing strategies using fundraising tactics to effectively and efficiently solicit donor constituencies.

Know the strengths of your team. Don’t take yourself too seriously! Think outside of the box – in your segmenting, letters,

telefunding, direct mail tests, and stewardship. STREAMLINE whenever possible. HAVE FUN!

Our GoalsOur Goals

Canisius College is in the quiet phase of a comprehensive capital campaign. The annual fund’s goal is to increase giving from $2 to $3 million, a seven percent increase each year for seven years. Year two has just been completed.

Our annual goals are the same as yours: Increase giving Increase donors, particularly alumni participation Try to do it both in the same year

Canisius College Annual Fund: What We’ve Done

Canisius College Annual Fund: What We’ve Done

During the past three years, the annual fund team has:

1. Increased donors by 22%, of which 17% is alumni

2. Increased annual giving by 14%

The call center students have:

1. Increased donors by 37%

2. Increased giving by 55%

3. Decreased refusals by 52%

How did you do that? How did you do that? Segmenting Direct Mail:

Creative collateral & letter writing Testing, testing and more testing! Coordination of campus solicitations

Student Telefunding: Three rules of telefunding The calling matrix

Leadership Society ($1,000+) How does it fit into the puzzle?

Volunteer Engagement Annual Fund Volunteers Engaging Volunteers

SegmentingSegmenting LOYALS, LYBUNTS, SYBUNTS, Lapsed and

Nondonors

LOYALS: a donor who consistently gives for five consecutive years

LYBUNTS: Last Year But Unfortunately Not This Year OR renewals

SYBUNTS: Some Year But Unfortunately Not This Year OR a donor who have given between two and five years ago.

LAPSED: a donor who gave six or more years ago NONDONOR: never not ever has this person given

even one cent to the college

Segmenting… ahh, there’s more!Segmenting… ahh, there’s more!

Class year Reunions 50s decade GOLD or young alumni

Constituency Alumni: general, young, reunion Parents Businesses & Vendors Faculty & Staff Students Leadership

Affinity Athletics Campus Ministry MBA Graduate School Department, clubs, etc.

AND WE HAVEN’T EVEN TOUCHED THE

SURFACE!

Creative Approaches to Direct Mail

Creative Approaches to Direct Mail

The marketing approach: What is your message? Is it consistent with your

university’s brand? Is it what your donors want to hear or what you think should be said?

How is your annual fund positioned? Do you have talking points that can be incorporated into all of your solicitations – both mail and phone?

Have you coordinated your messaging with the college’s communication department?

How do you segment your mailings? AND Are you targeting your message to the appropriate audience(s)?

Is your message consistent across the board? RESEARCH, RESEARCH, RESEARCH!

Fundraising tactics: Have you personalized your letter? Can you personalize

it beyond the address block and salutation? Did you incorporate an ASK? Are you telling donors why their support is needed or how

their past support has been used? OR are you showing them?

Are you creating or building upon a relationship? FOOD FOR THOUGHT: how many times do you thank a

donor before sending another solicitation? ANOTHER MORSEL: did you institutionalize your letter

or can you make it real (humor, heart-strings, tongue-in-cheek)? Remember: don’t take yourself too seriously!

Creative Approaches to Direct Mail

Creative Approaches to Direct Mail

Direct Mail:The Power of Tests

Direct Mail:The Power of Tests

Did you know that when asked, your donors will specifically say that they, themselves, do not want an incentive or recognition for a gift, but they believe others do?

TRUTH: your donors want recognition or an incentive for making a gift to your university.

Every general alumni solicitation should include a measurable incentive to test this theory.

Survey:1. Mailed as part of the CYE 2005 solicitation package to

alumni who graduated in odd years.

2. Results: $30,790 from 314 donors: 159 renewals, 17 new and 138 recovered donors.

3. Investment: $4000 ($3,500 consultant fee)

Luggage tags:1. Sent to donors throughout 2005 who made a gift or

fulfilled a pledge of $25 or more and provided updated business information.

2. Results: $19,614 from 122 donors: 77 renewals and 45 recovered donors.

3. Investment: $1000

Direct Mail: Example TestsDirect Mail: Example Tests

Direct Mail: Example TestsDirect Mail: Example Tests Address Labels: CYE 2005

1. Mailed to former givers only.

2. Results: $10,394 from 155 donors; 20 new donors and 135 recovered donors.

3. Investment: $760

Address labels: FYE 20071. Mailed as incentive to givers and young alumni donors whose last

gift was under $50. If last gift was doubled and paid by 12/31, address labels were received.

2. Goals: increase average gift, increase cash receipts, recapture SYBUNT & lapsed donors.

3. General alumni results: 27 donors who gave $525 last year and increased to $1,150; 7 donors recaptured. Average gift increased from $19.44 to $59.14.

4. Young alumni results: 30 donors who gave $1,430 last year and increased to $1,905; 8 donors recaptured. Average gift increased from $47.67 to $63.50.

5. Investment: $25 (remaining labels from 2005)

Hearts of Fire: Praying with the Jesuits books1. Mailed in CYE 2007 as incentive to givers whose last gift

was $50+. If last gift was doubled and paid by 12/31, received book with unique bookplate.

2. Goals: increase average gift, increase cash receipts, recapture SYBUNT & lapsed donors.

3. Results yielded 63 donors who gave $8090 last year and increased to $24,575 this year Average gift increased from $128.41 to $261.27 from same

donors; 30 donors recaptured.

4. Investment: $800

Direct Mail: Example TestsDirect Mail: Example Tests

Static Stickers1. Mailed in FYE 2007 as incentive to renewals to increase

last gift and former givers to renew last gift. If gift was made and received by 5/15, static sticker was received.

2. Goals: increase renewal giving, recapture former givers, increase cash receipts.

3. Results yielded 126 donors who gave $4713 last year and increased to $9413 Average gift increased from $44.63 to $74.71 from the

same donors; 81 donors recaptured.

4. Investment: $700

Direct Mail: Example TestsDirect Mail: Example Tests

No direct mail tests were incorporated into any 2006 solicitations.

Donor participation remained exactly the same from the previous year!

Direct Mail: Example TestsDirect Mail: Example Tests

Streamline solicitations sent from various campus offices

Graduate Business Office Athletics (16 NCAA sports) Campus Ministry (Alternative Spring Break; five Service

Immersion Trips)

Provide or assist in entire mailing process including individual reports

Campus-wide Direct Mail Solicitations

Campus-wide Direct Mail Solicitations

The 411 on Student TelefundingThe 411 on Student Telefunding

Three rules for success:1. ENGAGE

Hire/recruit callers like you would your development staff. Strategically placed, focused and committed callers will always

yield higher results.

2. EMPOWER Share with your student callers the strategic goals of your

institution allow them to personalize each contact. What do your goals mean to/for them?

3. ENERGIZE Make certain that callers are content and excited, not just about

the institution, but about their role in its success. Thank them and always give feedback!

The Calling MatrixThe Calling Matrix

Fall Semester

1. August – October: call all LOYALS and LYBUNTS, beginning with alumni and parents.

2. October – November: follow up with all other LYBUNTS and alumni SYBUNTS

3. November – December: fill in with all SYBUNTS

Spring Semester

1. January – mid-February: begin with SYBUNTS and LAPSED

2. February: call NONDONORS with emphasis on young alumni

3. March – April: go back to LAPSED & SYBUNTS

4. April – May: end with a thorough follow up on SYBUNTS, LYBUNTS and LOYALS

Canisius College Leadership Society ($1,000)

Canisius College Leadership Society ($1,000)

Current annual giving: $1.4 million from 586 donors 60 percent of total annual giving at Canisius

Goals: 1. Increase LS donors to 1,000+ by 2010

2. Increase average gift

3. Decrease the percentage of Leadership giving in overall annual fund

4. Incorporate and ensure annual Leadership solicitations in comprehensive campaign

Leadership Society: SolicitationsLeadership Society: Solicitations

Direct mail:

Fall: Invitation to Leadership Society Membership Mailed to all identified LS renewals & prospects NEW! Mailed to all donors of $250+ Results: generated 18 new LS donors, 35 recaptured

donors and 79 donors who increased last year’s gift.

CYE & FYE: segmented letters by renewal and prospect

Leadership Society: TelefundingLeadership Society: Telefunding

Telefunding: Five volunteer call nights

Two in October Two in December One in March

Calls are primarily made to ALL renewals with the exception of donors who are being actively solicited for major gifts

Last fall, one donor in one night made $100,000

Leadership Society: Fidelis CircleLeadership Society: Fidelis Circle

NEW THIS YEAR! (Thank you, Xavier!) Giving level designed to recognize LS members

who choose to support Canisius with a minimum annual gift of $1,870 per year for five years

Benefits: All those received by LS members PLUS:

1. Limited edition lapel pin

2. Personal concierge service through a 800 line

3. Exclusive invitations to events with College’s President

4. Bottle of wine, compliments of Canisius alumni winery owners

Goal: 24 charter members Results:

59 donors 40 increased pledge 16 kept pledge the same 3 decreased their pledge

$1.2 cumulative pledge total 2007-2011 (~$230,000 per year)

Leadership Society: Fidelis CircleLeadership Society: Fidelis Circle

Leadership Society: Peer ScreeningLeadership Society: Peer Screening Purpose: to find new prospects, rate them for

capacity, gain additional demographic information about alumni and engage volunteers

Peer Screening Session Overview Four peer screening events were completed during

this academic year Financial Industry Alumni Chapter Doctors Athletics

Results of each are run through Wealth Engine to compare volunteer ratings

Individual solicitation plans will be created and implemented next fall

Annual Fund Campaign Cabinet The campaign cabinet consists of a group of volunteers

representing each constituency: alumni, young alumni, leadership society, parents, businesses and friends, Blue & Gold, faculty and staff.

Class Fund Agents Class Fund Agents are representatives who solicit classmates

through letters, phone calls and personal visits. Strong participation in the 1940s and 1950s decades, young

alumni and reunion years. Letter Signers

Letter signers are volunteers chosen by the annual fund staff to appeal to other prospects with similar interests or circumstances.

Volunteer Callers Alumni, parents and friends of the college who opt to make calls

to their class or peers on behalf of the annual fund.

Annual Fund VolunteersAnnual Fund Volunteers

Keeping Volunteers interested and involved: Too often we look for “warm bodies” to fill volunteer roles – if

that happens, the person or the position is a problem. What are the strengths of your volunteer?

What are their interests? Are you creating meaningful roles?

Volunteers require a sense of ownership! Have you told them lately how much you love them?

When you thank your volunteers, tell them specifically how they have made an impact.

Volunteer Recognition Canisius College recognizes all volunteer efforts through tokens

of appreciation, lunches and public thank yous, most notably the annual Volunteer Picnic.

Engaging VolunteersEngaging Volunteers

Thank you!Thank you!