HOW TO PUT THE FUN IN YOUR ANNUAL FUND

1. HOW TO PUT THEFUNIN YOUR ANNUAL FUND … and achieve results

2. THIS IS HOW WE ROLL… • What we want you to get out of today. • How we hope this afternoon’s session will play out.

3. 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

4. Our 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!

5. Our 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

6. Canisius College Annual Fund: What We’ve Done • During the past three years, the annual fund team has: • Increased donors by 22%, of which 17% is alumni • Increased annual giving by 14% The call center students have: • Increased donors by 37% • Increased giving by 55% • Decreased refusals by 52%

7. 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

8. Segmenting • 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

9. AND WE HAVEN’T EVEN TOUCHED THE SURFACE! Segmenting… ahh, there’s more! • Affinity • Athletics • Campus Ministry • MBA Graduate School • Department, clubs, etc. • Class year • Reunions • 50s decade • GOLD or young alumni • Constituency • Alumni: general, young, reunion • Parents • Businesses & Vendors • Faculty & Staff • Students • Leadership

10. 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!

11. Creative Approaches to Direct Mail • 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!

12. 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.

13. Direct Mail: Example Tests • Survey: • Mailed as part of the CYE 2005 solicitation package to alumni who graduated in odd years. • Results: $30,790 from 314 donors: 159 renewals, 17 new and 138 recovered donors. • Investment: $4000 ($3,500 consultant fee) • Luggage tags: • Sent to donors throughout 2005 who made a gift or fulfilled a pledge of $25 or more and provided updated business information. • Results: $19,614 from 122 donors: 77 renewals and 45 recovered donors. • Investment: $1000

14. Direct Mail: Example Tests • Address Labels: CYE 2005 • Mailed to former givers only. • Results: $10,394 from 155 donors; 20 new donors and 135 recovered donors. • Investment: $760 • Address labels: FYE 2007 • 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. • Goals: increase average gift, increase cash receipts, recapture SYBUNT & lapsed donors. • 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. • 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. • Investment: $25 (remaining labels from 2005)

15. Direct Mail: Example Tests • Hearts of Fire: Praying with the Jesuits books • 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. • Goals: increase average gift, increase cash receipts, recapture SYBUNT & lapsed donors. • 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. • Investment: $800

16. Direct Mail: Example Tests • Static Stickers • 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. • Goals: increase renewal giving, recapture former givers, increase cash receipts. • 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. • Investment: $700

17. Direct Mail: Example Tests • No direct mail tests were incorporated into any 2006 solicitations. • Donor participation remained exactly the same from the previous year!

18. Campus-wide Direct Mail Solicitations • 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

19. The 411 on Student Telefunding • Three rules for success: • ENGAGE • Hire/recruit callers like you would your development staff. • Strategically placed, focused and committed callers will always yield higher results. • 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? • 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!

20. Fall Semester August – October: call all LOYALS and LYBUNTS, beginning with alumni and parents. October – November: follow up with all other LYBUNTS and alumni SYBUNTS November – December: fill in with all SYBUNTS Spring Semester January – mid-February: begin with SYBUNTS and LAPSED February: call NONDONORS with emphasis on young alumni March – April: go back to LAPSED & SYBUNTS April – May: end with a thorough follow up on SYBUNTS, LYBUNTS and LOYALS The Calling Matrix

21. Canisius College Leadership Society ($1,000) • Current annual giving: $1.4 million from 586 donors • 60 percent of total annual giving at Canisius • Goals: • Increase LS donors to 1,000+ by 2010 • Increase average gift • Decrease the percentage of Leadership giving in overall annual fund • Incorporate and ensure annual Leadership solicitations in comprehensive campaign

22. Leadership 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

23. Leadership 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

24. Leadership 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: • Limited edition lapel pin • Personal concierge service through a 800 line • Exclusive invitations to events with College’s President • Bottle of wine, compliments of Canisius alumni winery owners

25. Leadership Society: Fidelis Circle • 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)

26. Leadership 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

27. Annual Fund Volunteers • 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.

28. Engaging 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.

29. Thank you!