Problem/Opportunity:
A rescue mission client was missing out on a promising opportunity to increase results by integrating telemarketing into their regular direct mail program. The organization was reluctant to add a telephone follow-up campaign to a direct mail impact, fearing donors would feel pressured by multiple contacts in a short period of time. They were concerned that their partners would be offended and refuse to give to either strategy. After explaining the successes our other clients have seen with integrated strategies, they agreed to a test.

Successful Strategy:
Even limited channel integration can significantly boost your fund-raising results. And telemarketing is one of the easiest ways to increase response, reactivate lapsed (or lapsing) donors and reinforce relationships with committed partners. Because it’s so cost-effective, phone calls should be part of even modest development programs.

With this client, several donor segments receiving a November general appeal were also included in a telemarketing campaign timed to coincide with the mail drop. Callers referenced the direct mail piece, explained the need in more detail and invited donor questions. The responses of this group were compared to those who received only the telemarketing strategy.

Results:
The group that received the integrated strategy had a 28% higher response rate than the group that received only the phone call. Their average gift was 9% higher as well. In addition, at the end of the telemarketing campaign the number of fulfilled pledges was 23% higher for the test group as compared to the group that received just the phone call.

This is just more evidence that multi-channel integrated fund-raising improves immediate results, overall donor satisfaction and long-term donor value.

We hear it all the time: “I don’t think my online marketing is performing as it should.” But with more and more donors seeking to interact with their favorite nonprofits via the Web or eMail, you can’t afford to have a weak eMarketing program. This case study shows how Masterworks developed an integrated New Media marketing plan to help a client dramatically improve online results.

Problem/Opportunity:
A large rescue mission had in recent years experienced an average annual growth in Internet income of about 27%. That’s right up there compared with industry standards. But following a major site redesign by the organization’s internal Web team, income growth slowed to 6% year over year. The client was alarmed, and rightly so. The mission knew it had to find out what happened . . . and do something about it.

Successful Strategy:
After the mission consulted Masterworks about the dramatic drop-off in Web income, we recommended a full assessment of their website and New Media strategies. Masterworks focused on five areas:

• Site design, layout and creative elements
• Navigation and ease of use
• Content and information
• Donor-friendliness
• Traffic analysis

Our assessment identified two key issues:

• Visitors were confused by needlessly complicated design that lacked logical visual structure.
• Visitors were not being engaged because of the lack of compelling content.

Masterworks developed a fully integrated New Media marketing plan that concentrated on two core areas:

• A complete website redesign, beginning with the home page and incorporating all learning from our comprehensive assessment.
• A new content strategy that would engage users with fresh and relevant information, stories and regular ministry updates.

We recommended and then implemented the following changes:

1. Merged New Media with traditional marketing strategies.
2. Developed a rapid PR response strategy — including micro-websites, blogs, eMail blasts, newspaper advertising, eAppeals and telemarketing — all designed to encourage community partnership with the mission when local disasters hit.
3. Created special holiday season fundraising campaigns that include Web appeals, eAppeals, home page and banner advertising, landing pages and donation forms — all featuring offers and creative that coordinate with direct mail cultivation.
4. Integrated an acquisition strategy that uses special landing pages for new donors who are prospected through direct mail but give their first gift online.
5. Produced compelling success stories using the power and emotion of well-crafted videos so that donors can see online how their support results in changed lives.
6. Introduced a president’s blog to provide regular donor interaction opportunities for the mission’s visionary leader.
7. Employed seasonal event donor report-back communications that include eMail, home page ads and custom landing pages.
8. Initiated a specific strategy to acquire e-mail addresses through offline response devices that offer report-backs to donors via eMail.
9. Employed holiday season search engine keyword campaigns.
10. Revamped all donation forms to ensure that they purposefully drive online gifts and streamline/simplify the contribution process.
11. Placed online ads and special landing pages that tie in with television spots being aired.

Results:
As a result of this well-thought-out strategy and careful execution, in the first month alone Internet income grew more than 168%. What’s more, since its initial success, the mission has more than doubled the previous year’s monthly income. This demonstrates that a fully integrated New Media marketing plan — including fresh and compelling content, ease of navigation, coordinated on- and offline offers and a simplified contribution process that all work together — will give people a reason to visit your site on a regular basis and support your organization.

Problem / Opportunity:
A well-known national ministry was experiencing declining results — donor acquisition, donor retention, revenue and net income. Nowhere was this decline more noticeable than in the falling response to the organization’s flagship monthly magazine. The ministry had tried a variety of strategies to reinvigorate the publication’s net income and ROI. But these were primarily cost-cutting measures, including a reduction in size from 8½” x 11″ to 6″ x 9″ and a reduced mailing frequency from 12 to 8 times a year. None of these steps improved the sliding results.

Successful Strategy:
Since Masterworks did not control either the content or the format of the magazine, our challenge was to develop a new and innovative strategy that would achieve the following:

• Reverse the trend of declining response and income.
• Provide greater visibility to the magazine content and give donors more compelling reasons to request premiums and give straight donations.
• Reactivate lapsed donors who had not been motivated to give during the previous 12 to 24 months.
• Improve overall ROI.

We decided that after 25 years of mailing the magazine as a stand-alone with one or two pages of premium offers and an easily ignored bind-in response envelope, it was time for a breakthrough. For longtime donors in particular, their magazine would have to start arriving in a completely different way. We decided to test a new delivery approach in which the magazine would be mailed in a 9½” x 6½” double-window carrier envelope.

This method has proved successful for a variety of continuity programs that mail monthly CD, book and DVD catalogs to their members. Inside, to give added visibility to premium and straight fundraising offers, we designed multiple inserts highlighting both. The kit mailed off a newly designed, easy-to-use 8½” x 12″ reply device with a personalized note from the president.

We tested this new kit format against the stand-alone magazine using a variety of combinations of premium and straight fundraising offers.

Results:
During the testing phase, we increased the magazine’s net income by nearly $1.6 million with this treatment. In a head-to-head test, the new format generated the following results:

• Response rate: nearly tripled to .93% compared with .35% for the stand-alone magazine.
• Net income: more than tripled compared to stand-alone magazine.
• Net yield per thousand mailed: increased by tenfold compared to stand-alone magazine.
• Average gift: increased 54% compared to stand-alone magazine.

• ROI: increased 261% to 4.88 compared with 1.35 for the stand-alone magazine.

Problem / Opportunity:
Masterworks had the opportunity to test a more selective summer mailing strategy for a major West Coast rescue mission. We wanted to see what impact — in cost savings, short-term income and long-term value — the suppression of certain donors would have at a time of year when many are unlikely to respond.

Successful Strategy:
We analyzed over a five-year period the behavior of donors who had received summer impacts but never responded. We then carefully set up control and test groups to see how removing the non-responders from the summer mailing schedule affected not only short-term results but, more importantly, their lifetime value to the organization.

Results:
After one summer, we had saved the mission more than $12,000 in production/postage expenses. Even more significant, those donors who had been suppressed gave more generously between fall and Thanksgiving than they had previously at that time of year. After several years of implementing this strategy, the suppressed donors have a slightly higher lifetime value to the organization than those in the control group (who also fit the criteria for summer suppression but were mailed anyway).

The revelations from this test and others like it drove a shift in Masterworks’ strategy. If we . . .

• Narrow the mailing list to donors who have a high propensity to respond,
• Use appeal topics and offers that donors are most responsive to,
• Connect with donors at a time of year when they’re most likely to respond,

. . . then donor communication becomes much more relevant and meaningful. The end result is greater donor satisfaction, increased net income and hundreds of thousands of otherwise wasted mailing dollars that can be used for ministry and Kingdom growth. To us, it’s a matter of stewardship!

Problem/Opportunity:
Christian ministries change agencies for many reasons. But most make a move either because they’re simply not satisfied with the results they’re getting, or they no longer feel a deep connection with their marketing partner.

In 2004, Masterworks responded to the RFP of a well-respected rescue mission. They were changing agencies because they were not happy with their fundraising. We were one of two finalists. But the other firm — a secular agency that was geographically closer to this organization — ultimately won the business.

Successful Strategy:
It’s your job as an agency to help your client connect with new donors, hang on to supporters longer, raise more net income for ministry and to do all of that at a reasonable return on investment. But you also have to share something even more meaningful with your client — faith, values and the desire for a Kingdom impact.

After one year, the secular agency was fired. The mission hired Masterworks. In hindsight, the CEO noted, “I knew within a week of hiring the secular agency that I made a wrong choice. They pretended to get our voice, but there’s a difference between knowing the Psalms and knowing the Psalmist.”

Results:
After a year with Masterworks, the mission’s direct marketing income grew by $304,307 — a 24.6% increase — and donor retention was up across all segments. Furthermore, this client recently finished their fiscal year in the black for the first time in years.

But they have also commented time and again on how much of a connection they feel with Masterworks. They know we share their vision to reach the poor, hungry and homeless in Jesus’ name. And they know we’re committed to serving alongside them to do the work of the Master with integrity and quality.

Problem/Opportunity:
An international relief and development ministry had experienced a five-year decline in their donor base while using three different agencies. The subsequent loss of income had forced the organization to cut ministry programs and stop aggressively pursuing new donor acquisition.

Successful Strategy:
First, Masterworks conducted a detailed examination of the ministry’s fundraising programs, thoroughly analyzing their donor file and review marketing strategies. This insight helped maximize their most effective strategies and identify efforts that should be eliminated or revised. We recommended and implemented a combination of new offers, variable messaging, advanced list segmentation and tailored asks and gift arrays to re-engage the struggling organization’s donor base.

Results:
After 12 months, the client experienced the following results:

• Overall donor retention increased by 61.5%
• The number of active donors increased by 12.4%
• Direct mail net income grew by $220,047 over the previous 12 months — an increase of 39.3%

Results were so positive that the client was able to make a significant commitment to new donor acquisition.

Problem / Opportunity:
A ministry produced a monthly newsletter that was becoming less effective at generating funds. They asked us what they could do to turn this negative trend around and make the piece a key communication vehicle that donors look forward to receiving.

Successful Strategy:
Masterworks conducted a thorough analysis of their newsletter response. We determined that certain topics and offers were generating the highest income. We built a new impact schedule that ensured these themes and offers received heavy exposure throughout the year.

Next, we completely redesigned the newsletter to make sure it included the elements we have proven to increase newsletter response:

• A single-program focus
• Punchy, need- and donor-focused copy
• Minimal ministry-centered or “institutional” language and information
• Compelling visual images, especially on the front
• A persuasive fundraising section

Results:
The revamp increased response from 2.89% to 3.26%, average gift from $63 to $77 and annual net income from $234,887 to $293,280 — a lift of 24.9%. That’s an additional $58,293, which goes straight to ministry.

Problem/Opportunity:
A well-known East Coast rescue mission had an effective marketing department. Results from general donor fundraising were strong and net income was on the rise. But the organization was doing little to specifically solicit gifts from major donors.

The marketing director had a limited background in major donor development and no budget to hire an experienced major donor rep. But she was anxious to gain practical and hands-on instruction to effectively cultivate the top-end donors on their file. She knew there was, in her words, “lots of low-hanging fruit” — many donors in the community who were capable of making sizable gifts but had never been asked (or asked in the right way).

Successful Strategy:
To help this director expand and enhance her major donor development program, Masterworks suggested she participate in our 3-day Asking Institute. This comprehensive training experience led by our veteran consulting staff walks marketing professionals through all aspects of major donor fundraising.

From a biblical perspective on ministry fundraising to very specific strategies for improving your development results, the Asking Institute provides you with the expertise you need to achieve success in your major donor fundraising. This director left with more than just fundraising theory. She took home with her a step-by-step plan for implementing a major donor program from the ground up.

Results:
When this director returned to her job following the Asking Institute, she was able to immediately begin working on:

• Integrating major donor efforts into her overall development program.
• Developing a well-thought-out, formal plan for cultivating major donors.
• Identifying, classifying and building relationships with major donors.
• Assembling a “touch point” calendar for regular and meaningful communication with major donors.

What’s more, as a result of the training, she felt more confident inviting wealthy givers to partner with the mission. The training manual and other resources helped equip her to make and follow up on solicitations.

Best of all, within two weeks, the mission received an unexpected $69,000 gift, which she attributes to the coaching and instruction she received at the Asking Institute.

Problem / Opportunity:
The overhead at an inner-city rescue mission had gotten too high. Driven by growing mailing costs, the ratio of revenue compared to dollars spent on administrative and fundraising was looking worse every year. This prompted a foundation that typically granted an annual six-figure contribution to discontinue its support. As a result, the mission’s board of directors mandated that immediate measures be taken to decrease overhead, requiring a significant shift in fundraising strategy.

Successful Strategy:
After discussion with the client, Masterworks analyzed donor giving trends over a period of 2½ years. We determined that 86% of the revenue was coming from 30% of the donor file. The majority of donors — 70% — were contributing just 14% of the revenue. To decrease cultivation expenses, Masterworks implemented an innovative “reduced-contact” strategy for 70% of the donor file. We sent this group only impacts that had historically generated the highest return on investment. At the same time we maintained the full schedule to the remaining 30% of the donor file.

Results:
The organization cut mailing expenses by half but generated as much revenue as the year before. We anticipated that revenue would be off somewhat because the 70% group received fewer opportunities to give. But what we learned is that by reducing the number of mailings to only the impacts this group was most responsive to, these donors actually became even more responsive. Masterworks is now refining this strategy further in order to optimize short-term savings while minimizing risk to the long-term health of the donor file.

Problem/Opportunity:
Before joining Masterworks, one of our clients had worked with two other agencies and had not gotten the results they wanted — especially in donor acquisition. The organization was mailing 5 million pieces to nearly every household in their region and had gotten a dismal response rate, low average gift and unacceptable ROI. The cost of acquiring a donor had skyrocket. Because the previous agency received a commission on printing, they had no incentive to mail fewer pieces.

Successful Strategy:
They hired Masterworks to take over their donor acquisition program. We immediately went to work analyzing the mailing strategy and results from their prospecting effort. Through careful list selection, we recommended that the number of pieces be cut by more than half to 2.3 million.

Results:
We cut hundreds of thousands of dollars in mailing expenses but acquired more new donors than they had the previous year. Our results were: a 1.15% response rate, $24.43 average gift and .96 ROI.

Masterworks has a full-service relationship with this client that extends 12 years now. During that time, we’ve been ablve to conduct extensive testing in acquiition and cultivation that has resulted in many breakthroughs. What’s more, we’ve averaged a double-digit increase in revenue each year.