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Two LCV State
Affiliates Increase Monthly Donors with help from their Databank
  The
national League of Conservation Voters used a competition between all the
state-level affiliates to generate interest for members to become monthly
donors. The organization that could gain the most monthly donors in the limited
time-frame was given a grand prize of $1,000 to help their cause. The top two
competitors were Databank clients Wisconsin LCV and Alaska LCV. The two
organizations then took the national competition a step further to make their
competition even more interesting to their donors – they started a friendly
feud.
Recent trends in the nonprofit
sector are to focus on gaining more monthly donors over one-time gifts. In many
cases this not only increases the total amount in contributions from a donor
for the organization, but it can help donors feel more involved with the organization
by having that month to month contact. Two environmental organizations used a
fun and compelling campaign to increase support and monthly donors from their
current members.
“This means War!”
When the Alaska-based group sent out
a PowerMail™ saying they were going to “take down the cheeseheads,” it set off
a series of e-blasts between the two organizations and started a friendly
competition. The Wisconsin group replied with
their own PowerMail™ declaring “this means war!” riling up supporters from both
states into action.
A little friendly banter goes a long
way in getting people psyched about a cause, both internally and externally. “We
are fortunate because we have a competitive staff,” Angela West Blank,
Development Director from the Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters, said.
“It is great to have a group that is very, very motivated.” The LCV affiliates
were able to move their members and potential donors into action by making the
decision to be a monthly donor exciting and important to the individual
members.
Wisconsin used lists in the Databank to find
“low hanging fruits” in their donor databank. “One thing that worked a lot for
us is that we took the low hanging fruit approach, calling people who we
thought would be more inclined to join, like board members and 501c3 members,”
West Blank said. “We were also making calls, PowerMails™, Facebook postings,
staff member recruitments, and blogs with a monthly donor pitch... I can’t imagine
using a primitive system and being able to accomplish what we accomplished.”
Sonya Wellman, Development Director from the Alaska LCV, said the key to
their campaign was e-mailing and social media. Using searches in the Databank
helped them to track donors and to follow up with the previous year’s donors.
“We went into it with not too many expectations, we were trying to see what we
could get from the campaign and we were pleased with the results.”
Why encourage their members to become monthly donors instead
of annual donors? “Being a monthly donor is better for organizations and for
donors,” West-Blank explains, “It’s easier for donors to budget. Those that
know they can handle 5-10 dollars a month, it’s like a latte a month for them,
but it usually adds up to more in a year than they would have normally given in
an annual amount.” Wellman felt the same way, “increasing monthly donations
isn’t necessarily much of a burden for our members, but it helps us a lot.”
After the tight race, Wisconsin
ended up taking home the LCV Monthly Membership Recruitment Award. Even after
the competition, both the Alaska
and Wisconsin LCV continue encouraging members to become monthly donors through
thedatabank. Wellman says it’s all about the planning. “You need to really
decide what you want out of the Databank, and what you want to accomplish in
the long run. Be specific, so you know how to track your campaign. Taking time
to put in that information can be incredibly valuable later on when looking for
potential donors.”
For more information on the
League of Conservation Voters, visit www.lcv.org
For more information on the
Wisconsin LCV, visit www.conservationvoters.org
For more information on the
Alaska LCV, visit www.acvoters.org
For more
information on how thedatabank can help your organization build its support
base, visit our Products page.
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