1. ZSL
Good Bites…on big
appeals
Presented by Chris Norman and Micky Stemmer
20 May 2008
Thursday 30th August

2. Beyond business-as-usual
• Important • Appeal schedule
• Need • Programme topic
• Relevant • What you can/can’t say
• Specific • General funds
• Emotional • Case study/photos
• Rewarding • Feedback

3. Big Special Appeals
• What would you do with an extra £1,000,000?
• Exceptional: expenditure, effort, commitment, donors
• Funding the work, not the organisation
• Focused goal galvanises the organisation, tells a bigger story
• What excites staff, excites supporters
• Worth investing a bit more in content and feedback
It works for you, because it works for the supporter

4. Greenpeace Rainbow Warrior III

6. Greenpeace Rainbow Warrior III

11. Community Pack elements pushing to blog

16. Delivering a Big Appeal
1. 1. Build your campaign story around supporters
2. 2. The Restriction Question: ring-fenced programme
3. 3. The need has to be Specific, Important, Urgent
4. 4. Use the opportunity for integration across organisation
5. 5. Feedback real impact. Take people there
6. 6. Congratulate

17. Good Bites
30th August 2012

18. Why do a mini-big appeal?
Background to Little Heroes
Key principles for the appeal
What we did
Results so far
Key learnings
RLSB: Good Bites Presentation
18
August 2012

19. Why do a mini-big appeal?
1.Raise money
2.Gives fundraising a focus & builds
team spirit
3.Appeals to donors
RLSB: Good Bites Presentation
19
August 2012

20. Background to Little Heroes
1.Poor morale of staff
2.History of fundraising failure
3.Nursery our
‘crown jewel’ service
RLSB: Good Bites Presentation
20
August 2012

21. Key principles for the appeal
1.Testing ideas
2.Integration
3.Organisational wide involvement
RLSB: Good Bites Presentation
21
August 2012

22. What we did – direct mail
Mailing to
warm donors
Personal invite to
potential major
donors to visit
nursery
RLSB: Good Bites Presentation
22
August 2012

23. What we did - telephone
Called current and
lapsed regular givers.
Asked them to advocate
for the appeal.
Will follow up with a
reactivation /
upgrade call in
September
RLSB: Good Bites Presentation
23
August 2012

24. What we did –
community fundrasing
Focus on collections and
home money boxes
Looked to engage new
community support in
Kent
Town challenges with
fundraising team
RLSB: Good Bites Presentation
24
August 2012

25. What we did – mobile
Panels on trains - £3
donation ask
Distributed over 1,000
posters through the
town challenge
Followed up with an
advocate ask
RLSB: Good Bites Presentation
25
August 2012

26. What we did – online
Created microsite
Tested banner ads
Blogger engagement
Daily blog
RLSB: Good Bites Presentation
26
August 2012

27. What we did – PR
Celebrity messages
Local media
Radio ads
RLSB: Good Bites Presentation
27
August 2012

28. Results so far – the good
Mobile giving
• Nearly 700 texts against a 500 target.
• Over 60% agreed to advocate.
• Cost per acquisition around £70 & 7 month break even
(based on 50% penetration, 20% yes to direct debit)
Parental & staff support
• Over £10,000 has come from parents, nursery staff and
their family, friends etc
RLSB: Good Bites Presentation
28
August 2012

29. Results so far – the ok
Direct mail
• Over 15% response rate
• Average gift of ~£27 (30% higher than usual)
• Ten gifts of £250 or over
PR
• Lots of coverage, including national press and TV
• Not converted to donations
• Radio produced little response
RLSB: Good Bites Presentation
29
August 2012

30. Results so far – the indifferent
Collections
• Real struggle to place the boxes
• Public collections have struggled - £80 from Tunbridge
Well’s train station
• Had to look for a community plan B
Telephone
• High agreement to advocate – over 60%
• Not translated to income
• Could still come good if upgrade, reactivation, DD sign
up rates are improved
RLSB: Good Bites Presentation
30
August 2012

31. The final month
1. Major gift matched funding
2. Cold mailing
3. Text follow up
4. Little Heroes day – 21st September
RLSB: Good Bites Presentation
31
August 2012

32. Key learnings for the appeal
1. Abandon things that don’t work quickly
2. Cold community ask much harder than expected
3. Texting working well, but key is conversion
4. Start with your warm donors
5. Created a lot of internal goodwill and support
RLSB: Good Bites Presentation
32
August 2012

33. Any questions?
Craig Linton – Head of Fundraising
craig.linton@rlsb.org.uk
@frdetective
p.s Would you like to help reach the target?
• You can text NURSERY to 70007
• Help spread the word via Facebook & Twitter
• Help raise money (all donations matched) on Friday 21st
September
RLSB: Good Bites Presentation
33
August 2012