Triskaidekafundraising

If you want to get a kid turned on to PBS, Cookie Monster’s your guy. But New York’s WNET wanted donors, so it turned to the decidedly non-Muppet Jonathan Pond.

Pond, the financial advisor and host of “Your Money Matters 2000” was the star of a recent Thirteen WNET renewal postcard mailing sent to people who had donated during prior Pond programs. This – and a similar effort featuring Cuban salsa recording artist Celia Cruz – are among WNET’s first uses of programming interest data to customize communications to segments of its 310,000 donor file.

The bulk of WNET members – about 260,000 – are at the basic level, with annual donations in the $40 to $149 range. About 22,000 associate members have given $150 to $249; mainstay associates donate from $250 to $1,299; and on the low end, there are approximately 30,000 contributors who’ve contributed $30 or less.

With efforts like the Pond and Cruz postcard mailings – which hit about 7,500 and 3,100 respectively last year – WNET is trying to interact with donors at all levels. But the 2,000 or so patron level members, whose pledges start in the $2,500 range, require a bit of extra personalized handholding.

A team headed by Allison Fox, Thirteen’s director, major gifts, provides that. Beyond the standard benefits of high-level membership, these donors receive perks that reflect their interests, such as Patron’s Day, which includes tours of the station’s new facilities and a luncheon; or seats at the taping of a Kitty Carlisle Hart special.

Thirteen’s research department pulls together public data on donors at this level, such as Who’s Who biographic information and other charities to which they donate. Employees in the department are also trained to note a donor’s interests. A donor at a member event who causally mentions an interest in the veldt, for example, may receive a copy of “Wonders of the African World.”

“The more personal you are to the donors, the closer they are going to feel to you and your organization,” says Fox. “Each donor is unique, and you have to have a unique approach.”

One five-figure donor was unable to attend an event she had signed up for. Fox noted the donor’s pledge history, along with compiled data the research department had collected, and a bell went off in her head.

Fox called the donor, expressed regret and offered to set up a lunch with her and Thirteen president Bill Baker. This started a dialogue, which eight months later resulted in a $2 million pledge.

“The skill is to have the intuition to pick up on resource and interest signals,” says Fox. “When these converge they hit critical mass. It’s worth your time to get to know the donor.”

Of course, the station realizes that communication must go both ways. Thirteen has found that any member feedback, whether just a comment or an actual complaint, often indicates a higher propensity for subsequent donations, and is exploring how to use this information in its marketing efforts, says Ed Mills, director of membership, direct marketing and on-air fundraising “There is a more personal or emotional connection,” he says. “Our members call and feel they are part of the station.”

Member feedback, along with preference data, is used to customize the timing and quantity of pieces in Thirteen’s renewal series, which typically starts three months before expire and consists of eight or nine efforts. The station tries to be sensitive, for example, to the 25,000 donors who feel they’ve been solicited too early. Another even smaller group has insisted on receiving only one notice. While Thirteen honors their request, the station will follow up if they don’t renew after a decent interval.

When determining what level of donation to ask for, the station uses the most recent amount given – rather than the cumulative pledging of a donor – as its cue. This allows Thirteen to request an amount appropriate to that most recently given, taking into account any possible changes in a viewer’s economic status. Donors who also give at one, and only one, specific time annually are eliminated from the prospect pool of additional gift appeals.

All of this data, along with the specific pledge break and which program was on the air at the time of a donation, is accessible through a database shared by the station’s viewer relations, membership, planned donor and bequest departments. It will be rolling out renewal solicitation telemarketing efforts incorporating viewer interests during the upcoming quarter.

This effort, like most of its customization tests, will be implemented initially in the highest of Thirteen’s four donor categories.

Thirteen has a vested interest in keeping its members feeling as though they are part of the family. First-time donors are not profitable for the station, a situation Mills feels is common to most PBS affiliates. About half of them drop off after their first pledge. But if Thirteen can get them to re-ante, the renewal rate thereafter is in the high-70% range.

Thirteen tries to match the member’s inbound contact method to its outbound messages, although it does maintain opt-out lists for both telephone and direct mail solicitations, and members are asked if they want to be placed on either with every acknowledgment of their donations.

E-mail contact is a different story, however. The station has been collecting addresses only since mid-1999, and errs on the side of privacy, requiring that donors opt-in for future e-mail solicitation.

“It is assumed,” says Mills, “that they wish to be contacted the way they came – with the exception of e-mail.”