The Human Rights Campaign has defied several commonly held bits of wisdom in its fundraising efforts:
* Don’t aggressively upsell.
* Don’t oversolicit core donors.
* Don’t prospect with a high initial solicitation level; make the profit on the back end.
By breaking these rules, the Washington, DC-based gay and lesbian rights organization has grown from a $5 million organization in 1994 to a projected $15 million institution in 2000.
Dane Grams, HRC’s deputy director of annual giving, has been with the nonprofit for 18 months. In that time, he has aggressively championed sustained giving programs in which donors agree to have regular contributions taken out of their checking accounts or charged to their credit cards.
“I am a firm believer in sustained giving programs, particularly at a time in which direct mail and telemarketing are being ridiculed,” says Grams. “Monthly giving is a great way for people to give. Organizations can focus more on program work than on fundraising.”
For the HRC, sustained giving has a more practical aspect. As a lesbian and gay organization, a higher percentage of its donor base is on the younger side (with an average age of 40), single, and mobile. “Getting them hooked on an electronic method of giving makes our job easier.”
Automatic renewal programs may be especially effective for individuals who have a visceral link with a marketer. The HRC’s auto-renew program- “Partners”-offers few benefits, aside from a lapel pin and a certificate. Nonetheless, it has grown from around 2,000 members in 1997 to 4,500 donors today-a 125% increase. The level of gift-giving among Partners participants has escalated even faster, jumping from $238,000 in 1997 to $730,000; a 207% increase. In 2000 it is budgeted as having 6,200 members and pulling in more than $1 million.
It will probably surpass that goal, especially with programs such as the Federal Club. These participants give $100 a month through the auto-donation program. In return, they receive a fancier lapel pin and a special bimonthly insiders guide to the organization.
To build up the Federal Club, Grams ran a list of 15,000 individuals who had given cumulative annual gifts in excess of $1,000 a year, and attempted to migrate them through direct mail and telemarketing to Federal Club status. The effort netted 220 new Federal Club members, with a total pledge level of $265,000. The cost of the entire effort was only $65,000.
But just because the Partners program focuses on automatic donations doesn’t mean the HRC leaves them out of the communication loop. Much of the reason the level of giving has outstripped the level of participation is upgrade solicitations.
“We didn’t want them to miss out on information or [a current] membership card,” he says. And the requests to increase the monthly donation level have been successful: The upgrade rate is around 5%, with an average monthly increase of $8, or an additional $96 per year.
Beyond direct mail and telefundraising, the organization uses its regular contact mechanism to boost its endowment.
A quarterly newsletter, which is sent out to 150,000 members, is mailed in a plain envelope for discretion. This allows the HRC to include an additional letter to members, a reply card, and a postage-paid reply envelope.
“We typically get a 1-to-2 percent response rate, with an average gift of $40-$50. This is on top of their membership fees, or autodonor participation,” says Grams.
He estimates each newsletter mailing generates around $75,000, or a total of $300,000 per year on a minimal additional expenditure for letterhead, envelopes and return postage.
The HRC is equally unabashed about increasing the amount it requests from prospects.
In the past year, Grams tested two prospecting packages with nearly identical copy. The only difference was the suggested donation amount: One package asked for a minimum of $20, and the other $35.
“Not only did it increase the average gift by $3, but the cost per dollar raised [for the higher-ask package] was sixty cents per dollar, as opposed to sixty-five cents.”
At press time, the effort had just dropped, so the initial renewal results on both packages have just begun to come in.
Why do the Human Right Campaign’s donors give with such enthusiasm for so little material return? Probably for the same reason Grams feels a personal attachment to his work: Not only does he do something he has been well seasoned in-nonprofit direct marketing fundraising-but he enthusiastically believes in the mission of his organization.
“An organization like ours is representing the last great civil rights movement of our time,” Grams notes. “Selling the product is really what does it.”
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