Challenge
With this appeal being so important to the overall Inner-City fundraising program, we set out to optimize the campaign and refresh the package in order to increase the average gift and leverage the successful direct mail appeal with an integrated email that would help warm up online prospects for the year-end giving season.
Solution
Our strategy for this year-end initiative was to solicit on the premise of refreshing and optimizing a package that has been tried-and-true for Inner-City. Inner-City’s donors are accustomed to receiving a prayer card, which is semi-premium, yet mission-related. The card itself is 15 pt with a varnish, for a high-quality feel.
This year’s card featured Luke 1:14, which states “And you will have Joy and Gladness.” Inner-City donors are very receptive to Catholic language, and so this language was utilized throughout the letter, including a special teaser on the back of the outer envelope (OE) and a picture of the card on the front to incentivize opens. Once the donor removes the card from the affixed letter and turns it over, they see a special prayer on the back. A picture of the prayer was included in the email.
This copy across all platforms tugged on the heartstrings of donors, reminding them of when they were young students looking forward to gifts on Christmas. However, for the children Inner-City serves, the gift they are hoping to receive is a scholarship that will allow them to remain in their Catholic school and further their education. We focused on leveraging this emotional story to impress how important the donor’s contribution is.
Results
- Average gift for the direct mail portion increased 47.06%, bringing in more high-value donors. This was also higher than the budgeted average gift goal of $300. Average gift for the integrated email was even higher.
- The 1x/2x per year donors performed strongly with a response rate of 27.96%, demonstrating this is a great appeal to include them in.
- CTRAD is under industry benchmark of $0.25 at $0.11.
