You know how we all worry about overheads?
Well, Josh O’Rourke, a relationship fundraiser from Amnesty International Australia, had a good approach with one of his mid-value donors.
Having met up with a mid-value donor who had given gifts up to $2,000, Josh found out the donor was keen to multiply her donation. The donor asked to be anonymous, but let’s call her Janine after Josh’s mum.
There is lots of evidence that multiplying gift appeals increase average donation and/or response rate. The offer is something like Donate by 30 June and our sponsor will match your gift…
Janine had obviously liked that offer previously. Chatting with his colleagues in direct marketing, Josh found out there were no matching gift campaigns that she could contribute to at that time. So he turned it on its head and asked Janine to be the sponsor who would be matching other peoples gifts!
It turned out she loved the idea and was interested in Amnesty’s campaign for their work with indigenous children.
Janine gave $30,000.
Josh was chuffed, as were his colleagues in digital direct marketing. They usually have such a campaign around this time of year and hadn’t yet got a sponsor for the match. They emailed it immediately.
Within ninety minutes of the email going out, they had raised $20,000. Then whizzed past the $30,000.
Janine’s donation will be worth at least $60,000 to Amnesty’s important work.
It happened because Josh and Amnesty made sure Janine felt like a VIP.
Make your mid-value donors feel like the VIPs they really are – I cover this important topic in one of the modules of the Mid-Value Donor Super Course. You can find out more in The Fundraisingology Lab.