The document discusses the American Heart Association's efforts to standardize and improve its donations processing systems. It describes how the AHA worked with CDS Global to implement centralized caging, capture, and acknowledgement processes to provide consistency, improve security and data quality, and increase donations. The new system helped process over $425 million in donations and saved over $52,000 in bank fees while improving the donor experience. The AHA then expanded the program to additional revenue streams and piloted remote deposit capture.
2. The American Heart Association
Chip Sugrue
Vice President of Customer Strategies/
Affiliate Management Consultant
3. Mission
Building healthier lives, free of
cardiovascular diseases and stroke
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4. 2020 Goal
“By 2020, to improve the cardiovascular health of all
Americans by 20% while reducing death from
cardiovascular diseases and stroke by 20%.”
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5. AHA Affiliates
A
K
Founders Affiliate
WA Michael Weamer, EVP
MT ND CT, ME, MA, NH, NJ, *NY, RI & VT
M ME
N VT NH
OR M
RI
SD
SD WI NY NYC A
W CT
ID MI
Y PA
IA OH NJ
Western States Affiliate NE
Midwest Affiliate
Roman J. Bowser, EVP IL Great Rivers Affiliate
IN DE
Kevin Harker, EVP
AK, AZ,*CA, HI, ID, MT, NV, OR, UT & WA
IA, IL, IN,*KS, MI, MN, MO, ND,
Nicole Aiello Sapio, EVP
CO DE, KY, OH, *PA W WV
& DC
NV UT NE, SD & WI VA MD
KY
CA KS M V
O Mid-Atlantic Affiliate
NC
TN
Jeremy Beauchamp, EVP
MD, NC, SC, *VA & WA, DC
OK AR SC
AZ NM
National
TX
Center MS AL GA
SouthWest Affiliate LA
FL
Midge LaPorte Epstein, EVP Greater Southeast Affiliate
AR, CO, NM, OK, *TX & WY David Markiewicz, EVP
HI AL, *FL, GA, LA, MS, PR & TN
PR
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6. Chip Sugrue
5 Years National Vice President Of Customer Strategies
American Heart Association, National Center
10 Years as CEO/Executive Vice President
AHA Minnesota Affiliate
AHA Northland Affiliate
AHA Northeast Affiliate
9 Years as National Affiliate Management Consultant
American Heart Association, National Center
34 Years Total Field/National Center Experience
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8. Our parent company, Hearst
Corporation, is more than 120
years old and comprises nearly
20,000 employees spanning six
major groups
Newspapers
Magazines
Broadcasting
Entertainment/Syndication
Interactive Media
Business Media
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12. Brett Ridge
10 Years as CEO/Executive Director
Make-A-Wish Foundation of Iowa
National Multiple Sclerosis Society of Iowa
FFA Foundation of Iowa
7 Years as VP/Director of Marketing, Public Relations,
Public Affairs (Government Relations)
American Cancer Society, Midwest & Iowa Divisions
Numerous State and National Task Forces & Coalitions
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15. The Problem
Differences in donations processes:
Donations captured
Donations acknowledged
Donations receipted
Donations cultivated
Could we be confident that
our donors were being
appropriately thanked,
cultivated or at a
minimum, meeting IRS
receipting regulations?
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16. Why All the Fuss?
AHA estimates only 55% of contributions and payments
received an acknowledgement
Lack of process consistency between Affiliates makes
acknowledgement rates an estimate
To ensure we were consistently meeting IRS guidelines
How much revenue has AHA lost due to uncultivated
relationships because contributions were not captured
for acknowledgement?
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17. What to do?
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18. Objectives
Review the mechanics of how we cage, capture and
acknowledge our donors
The solution must:
Provide consistency across the organization
Be cost-effective for the Association
Allow for scalability to quantity demands
Be “trackable” – provide the Association a means to record if,
when and what type of donation was received and
acknowledgement generated
Improve the data quality for the Association
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19. Our Vision
We envision a day that the AHA will:
1. Process all financial contributions into E1 according to
established guidelines
2. Achieve a donor entry turnaround of three working days from receipt
at the donor capture processing location
3. Mail an acknowledgement for a contribution with appropriate IRS
terminology within five working days of receipt of donation
4. Identify trends in giving and segment donors based upon
demonstrated behaviors
5. Design and implement an association-wide cultivation strategy
Classifications of donors
Creation of specific cultivation paths targeted to donor segment needs
Example: Sending a message about us almost meeting our impact goal
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20. Three Moving Parts
1. Caging
How AHA deposits money
2. Capture
How AHA collects customer
data into the AHA CRM
systems (Siebel, Kintera, etc.)
3. Acknowledgement
The “Thank You”
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21. Caging: What Did We Gain?
Ability to electronically upload data into existing
applications
Ability to develop a reporting infrastructure
Solution consistently applied
Ability to track batch status within caging process
Ability to adjust to future changes and invest in technology
Minimal start-up costs
Minimized ongoing training costs after implementation
Ability to add additional income sources
Minimized impact on system infrastructure
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22. Capture: What Did We Gain?
Maximized the number of donors captured
Provided better opportunity for 360 degree view of donor
Solution consistently applied
Met data security and internal privacy requirements
Ability to identify the source of the donation and market
Disaster recovery is included
Ability to adjust to future changes in technology
Designated staff have visibility to the donation process
Minimized redundancies in processing between caging and capture
Ability to have consistent data verification
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23. Acknowledgements: What Did We Gain?
Ability to comply with IRS reporting guidelines
Standardized process for thanking our donors
Increased cost efficiencies by comingling mailings
Ability to cultivate and re-engage donors
Customization of acknowledgements by event or
activity (phase 2)
Ability to track status of acknowledgement
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24. Cost Savings/Reallocation
Existing lockbox costs would be reduced (e.g. Heart Walk) and reallocated
Reduced the number of lockboxes needed from 21 to 14
Some mail costs shifted from Affiliates to vendor
Reduction in copying costs and time spent copying checks
Staff time reallocated due to increased efficiencies
Redeployment of staff resources for some Affiliates
Depository fees savings of approximately $26,000/year with 9 deposits
from the vendor per day versus 300 deposits
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25. Caging, Capture, Acknowledgement Impact
More donation information captured and entered into expanded
360 data warehouse
Standardized cash receipts guidelines developed
Affiliates now participating in cash pooling program
Better customer service in responding to donor inquiries
Ability now to expand standardized Donor Appreciation project
Opened up new opportunities in other business functions
(Youth Market, Work place Giving, Health Strategies)
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26. The Impact In Numbers (27 months)
More than $425,000,000 in Savings of more than $52,000 in
income processed bank fees
3,510,379 transactions Savings of more than $24,000 by
937,905 acknowledgements eliminating 7 lockboxes
mailed
7,000 requests for information
More than 2.4 million new
donors added to CRM
More than $200,000 savings in
acquisition costs
More than $47,000 in
second gifts
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28. mail receipt
PO boxes identify clients and
transaction types
STEP Regional collection offices
1 Mail is either picked up at post office or
delivered to sites
From remote locations (RDC)
29. Getting It Done
Remote Deposit Capture
Reduce float time
Save on costly postal fees
Improves funds availability
Process deposits from events, local office
Multiple scanner options
Easy-to-use software and implementation
Capture data in addition to checks
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30. STEP
2 mail processing
SORTATION EXTRACTION IMAGING &
DATA
Sort multiple Open and CAPTURE
classes of remove Imaging Systems
documents envelope Web Image
contents Archive
Handwriting
Detection &
Recognition
33. Imaging & Data Capture
State-of-the-art imaging system
Capture virtually any data from any documents
Speed up processing
Ensure security, compliance, highest accuracy in industry
Increase amount of data captured about donors
37. STEP
depositing
3 • Balancing – No data file, check or check image leaves
CDS Global without being in balance
• Deposit
• Manual – Physical deposit of checks via bonded courier
• Electronic Check Presentment (ECP)
• Send an electronic image of check to bank for depositing
• Check 21
• ACH/ARC
• Both
• Online Bill Pay Support – Relationships with vendors to
receive data feeds when bills are paid via online banking site
38. STEP Customer Database
4 Communication/Feeds
• Customize feeds or key data directly into
donor database to suit requirements
• Highly flexible, easy to use
• Keeping valuable data safe
• Transaction data distributed via secure
FTP site (CDSFiles)
39. Donor Acknowledgements & Marketing Solutions
Recognize attract, retain donors
Seamless programs that handle the
printing, personalization and mailing of
donor acknowledgement packages
Paper and electronic methods available
Quickly and accurately
acknowledge donors
Donor solicitations
Rewards for high-value donors
Personalized, multichannel campaigns
Simple event registration capabilities
and online payment
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41. Expanding the Program
Accounts Receivable Results
4 of 7 affiliates participating
4,700+ receivables processed and deposited
Saves AHA preparation and processing time
Customized acknowledgement letter for Youth Market donors
Created customized acknowledgement for those making
additional donations
2012 – Creating customized acknowledgement for Workplace
Giving donors
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42. Expanding the Program
Remote Data Deposit and Capture Testing
Determine if batch headers and checks could be scanned
remotely to CDS Global for caging, capture and
acknowledgement
Quantify cost savings from not mailing information
Quantify additional interest earned for depositing income faster
Identify impact of scanning on AHA workload
Identify any issues with AHA taking on the check
destroying responsibilities
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43. Expanding the Program
Remote Data Deposit and Capture Pilot
Two high-volume offices within the Founders Affiliate (Framingham
and Robbinsville) were selected to participate
• Pilot ran from April 1-June 30, 2011
• CDS Global loaned one scanner to each office
• CDS Global conducted webinar to train staff on scanning machines
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44. Expanding the Program
Remote Data Deposit and Capture Pilot
More than 45% of the total income from the Founders Affiliate was
processed from Framingham and Robbinsville offices
Robbinsville also processed Accounts Receivable
More than 1/3 of the total batches processed (1,166)
More than 1/4 of all checks (5,441) processed
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45. Expanding the Program
Remote Data Deposit and Capture Pilot Results
1,166 batches and more than $3,543,000 processed
More than $845 in postal costs saved
More than $600 in additional interest earned
Additional cost savings of $45.60 from not having to use
Tyvek envelopes
Information scanned in the morning/deposited the same day
Information available in e1 and Web Image Archive within hours
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46. Expanding the Program
Remote Data Deposit and Capture Pilot Results
Scanning did not appear to take any more or less staff time than
manually preparing batches and prepping them for mailing
Scanning could help speed up process for confirming donations in
event management tools
Scanning documentation would save a step
Positive ROI using scanners
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47. Expanding the Program
Remote Data Deposit and Capture Pilot Results
Potential costs savings assuming similar costs to the Founders
Affiliate offices for 25 additional AHA offices:
• Postage savings of $42,250*
• Increased income of $29,123 (1.5%)
• Decreased Tyvek envelope costs $2,280
• Estimated total savings and increased interest
income = $73,653+ per year
*FDA sending all batches Priority Mail
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48. Stop the Guessing Game
Brett Ridge
Senior Solutions Manager, Nonprofit
50. Leveraging Data
Weave Your Way into Their DNA
Remember who they are … their context
Be simple and direct on their level
Creative
Simplicity … not off the wall
Create a plan for touches
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51. Expanding the Relationship
Growth from Increased Relationships
3X+ and 2X donors with activity are 132% and 56% more valuable
than their average donor counterparts
Life to Date Dollars from donors with both revenue and
non-revenue activity
Freq. Donors Activity Giving
LTD Dollars LTD $/Donor
Category w/Activity Freq. Freq.
3x+ 659,081 4.04 7.34 $589,745,418 $894.80
2x 309,174 3.04 2 $42,773,548 $138.35
1x 652,531 2.27 1 $45,220,394 $69.30
Totals 1,620,786 3.14 3.77 $677,739,360 $418.15
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52. Gathering Data
Begin a Dialogue
Provide information
Ask their thoughts
Get their opinion
Make them feel that you care what they think …
and then actually begin to care
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53. Gathering Data
Solicitations
Mailed
Emailed
Personal calls
Online portals
• Age, gender, creed, etc.
• Email address
• Communication
preferences, social media
information
• Interests, hobbies, event
preferences
• WHY THEY CARE
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54. Gathering Data
Tear-Offs
Can be scanned
PURL
To prepopulated microsites
• Surveys, information etc.
QR Codes
Directly to microsites, websites,
webstores, surveys, etc.
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55. Gathering Data
Acknowledgements
Mailed
Emailed
Personal calls
Online portals
• Begin a dialogue
• Provide information
• Ask their opinion
• Ask for another donation
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56. Gathering Data
Acknowledgement Opportunities
Planned giving wills and estates (7,000 requests)
Volunteer opportunities (7/1/2011 – 300+ requests)
Research information
Join the You’re the Cure Advocacy Network
Soft ask for additional donation (FY 2011 – $47,000 from
689 donations = $68.21 gift average. First 7 months of FY 2012 –
$53,614 from 345 donations = $155 gift average.)
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57. Gathering Data
Track It
Who responded?
What channel did they use?
What did they tell you?
Analyze the Data
What does it tell you about
groups? Individuals?
Build profiles
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58. Leveraging Data
Context
It’s not about you
Connect with them on their level
Meet consumers at their destination
Enhance Data
Add additional data
Build profiles on individuals
Build prospect profiles
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59. Constituent Data 100,000
Provide Email on Send Email
Constituent File? with PURL
Age Yes
Analysis
20-60
(age, propensity
to give, etc.)
Open
No Email? Send 2nd
Age Email
60 + No
Yes
Send AgeTargeted Personalized Postcard w/QR and Tear-Off
Go To Open
Option (2 or 3 age segments)
PURL? Email?
No Yes
Yes
Utilize QR Yes
to PURL
No Microsite w/Call 2nd
Capture
Or to Action No
Email
Utilize Tear- Scan Tear-Off
No Off Yes
Positive
Acknowledge via US Mail and/or Response?
No
Email, Notify IRC for Fulfillment Yes
Record in Campaign
Manager as Record in Campaign
Unsuccessful Manager as
Record in Campaign Manager as Successful
Unsuccessful
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60. Leveraging Data
AHA Multichannel Opportunities
Average of 1,000 customers contact AHA Service Center via email or
phone each day for educational or donation information
Dynamic Delivery provides opportunity to email educational or
donation information while they are on the phone
• Average more than 9,000 Dynamic Delivery emails per month
In FY 2011, more than 110,000 Dynamic Delivery emails were sent,
saving the organization more than $220,000 in print and postage costs
while delivering outstanding service to the customer
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61. Leveraging Data
AHA Multichannel Opportunities
In March 2011 we created a monthly educational email to send to
our online donors to heart.org. More than 48,000 online donors
received these emails in the last year. Our 2011 year-end email
campaign to these donors increased income more than 47%.
Volunteers and staff called all $500+ year-end campaign donors.
In FY 2011, we added a donate button to the bottom of the
Dynamic Delivery email. As a result Dynamic Delivery customers
donated more than $184,000 during the year. In FY 2012 we have
already exceeded FY2011 with more than $284,000 through the
first 7 months.
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62. Leveraging Data
AHA Multichannel Opportunities
In FY 2012, we added monthly opportunity to volunteer for the AHA.
Customers receive 15 days after Dynamic Delivery. February 2012, we
added a direct link to our volunteer form. The number of volunteer
submissions doubled the day the email was sent out. Local staff
follow-up with those interested in volunteering to onboard them to a
volunteer activity.
At least 3 channels used (phone, email, personal follow-up)
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63. Leveraging Data
Fight for it!
Enlist marketing professionals as consultants
• Not for creative work … but to sell the ideas
Replace, replenish, refuel
Forward-thinking Board Members & Staff
• Positive attitude
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64. Leveraging Data
We are not perfect, we learn as we go … We are great at
acquiring new donors, we are not as good retaining and
renewing donors
Some of our offline cultivations have not done well
Our donation renewal rates are not where we want them to be
We need to be more proactive (ex: sending late breaking news about
stroke to our stroke customers after our annual Stroke Conference)
The opportunity to volunteer from our website is new 12/1/2011 and
we are learning
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65. Leveraging Data
“Failure is a prerequisite for great success. If you want to
succeed faster, double your rate of failure.”
̶ Brian Tracy
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67. Evaluate This Session!
Each entry is a chance to win an NTEN engraved iPad!
or online using #12NTCAHCDS at www.nten.org/ntc/eval
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This is an exercise that people in the workshop will do where they get to cut one notebook sheet of paper with one continuous cut and try to make it such that the paper is still connected yet can fit around someone’s body. The idea is that you can get so much more from a piece of paper than you first think.
This is an exercise that people in the workshop will do where they get to cut one notebook sheet of paper with one continuous cut and try to make it such that the paper is still connected yet can fit around someone’s body. The idea is that you can get so much more from a piece of paper than you first think.
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This is an exercise that people in the workshop will do where they get to cut one notebook sheet of paper with one continuous cut and try to make it such that the paper is still connected yet can fit around someone’s body. The idea is that you can get so much more from a piece of paper than you first think.
Our sophisticated page-scanning, imaging and recognition technologies supply you with an efficient and cost-effective data management platform capable of collecting precise donor information. Our automated imaging and data capture technologies speed up processing while ensuring security, compliance and the highest accuracy in the industry. They also increase the amount of data being captured about your donors and help to refine and support marketing and donor engagement programs over time.
-Our sophisticated page-scanning, imaging and recognition technologies supply you with an efficient and cost-effective data management platform capable of collecting precise donor information. -They also increase the amount of data being captured about your donors and help to refine and support marketing and donor engagement programs over time. -Our data capture systems read and store information from virtually any document that comes with your receivables – including donor contributions and correspondence.-Our automated imaging and data capture technologies speed up processing while ensuring security, compliance and the highest accuracy in the industry. They also increase the amount of data being captured about your donors and help to refine and support marketing and donor engagement programs over time.
Using our advanced imaging systems, CDS Global is able to collect precise customer information during the order and remittance processes. We capture and electronically store essential information, which can be immediately imported into your customer databases.
Using our intelligent recognition software, easily detect and capture handwritten information from your customers including address changes, customer messages, vouchers, mark-sense selections and more. Not only can our technology determine that something has been hand-written, it can actually read and translate what was written, which saves processing time and ensures that all information from customers is captured.For example on this donation you can see that the man that is donating wants the donation to be given in the name of his son who was a victim of drunk driving.
CDS Global’s Web Image Archive (WIA) is an electronic storage facility designed to store your documents and information, providing online access to your critical data. With a complete audit trail and flexible search functionalities, your customer service representatives and internal personnel can quickly search and find any document that was processed on behalf of a customer.
Balancing – A differentiator for us. We ensure the highest accuracy in the industry.Online Bill Pay - Relationships with certain vendors (Metavante, ORCC, etc.) to receive data feeds when bills are paid via online banking site
CDS Global has the products and expertise to help you recognize, attract and retain your most exclusive donors. Promptly acknowledging all donors is a critical step in donation processing. Donors are much more willing to give again if their gifts are quickly and accurately acknowledged. We offer seamless programs that handle the printing, personalization and mailing of donor acknowledgement packages as well as donor solicitations rewards for high-value donors, and personalized, multichannel campaigns – helping our clients acquire new donors, reward loyal donors, increase one-time gifts, and increase giving levels among various donor segments. American Heart example: The executives were looking for more donations. Ran a donor acknowledgment campaign that included an ask for an additional gift. The postal savings paid for the acknowledgment process alone. Through personalization and correct segmentation they saw a XX% increase in ROI.
This is an exercise where the participants try to lay out an 8 foot length of post-its on the floor or wall with no rulers. They do it first in smaller groups and then join groups together. They idea is that the more people involved, the more confident they become in their decision….in essence they have more data to leverage.