Generation Next

Terri and I attended our local branch of AFP’s Philanthropy Institute this week.  One of the speakers, Judith Nichols was excellent.  The core of her talk was the importance of both speaking to your constituency in the way they want to be spoken to,  and also to start grooming the “younger” donor.

 One thing that struck me was that people write their will in their late 40’s,   so why do we constantly hit up the 80 year olds for their planned gifts? 

 She also discussed the differences between the boomer’s and the gen x’ers ( and beyond) and how they want to be approached and how they prefer to be involved.  The younger generation wants to be engaged with a non profit.  They don’t just blithely give,  they want to truly understand where the gift goes,  and what the organization is doing differently.   Among younger people the number one charity is Habitat for Humanity.  Well it’s of little surprise that most of their donors have also been engaged by working.

 The x’s, y’s and nets  even want to be a part of creating the message and the movement,  discussed nicely by Jane Genova the other day.

 How can we better construct the message to the younger (specifically the Y and Millinial generations)?  How can we engage them,  or even reach them in the first place?

A recent article in Fundraising Success magazine this month (July 2007) caught my eye. It was titled “Take 12: 12 bright ideas, that is to rock your (nonprofit) world –and raise results”. One thing that stuck out to me was # 9: “Personalize, don’t Patronize” in which the author says, “Donors are savvy enough to know that computers, not people, provide this personalization, so don’t overdo it.”

This is by all means a true statement. The donor has become much more savvy, and it is said ad nauseum that the consumer gets 1000 messages a day.

In the beginning, it was true that marketers were doing variable for the sake of variable, and personalization, just cause they could. But today’s use of variable has gotten smarter. Heavy variable might be kind of cool, but it doesn’t necessarily garner more response, which, is obviously the name of the game.

No one gets a mail piece that has their name on it and assumes that someone’s secretary, Madge, just typed it up for them that morning; But good use of variable, (stress on the word ‘good’) can be extremely effective. It can give your constituent the sense that you care enough to “know” them, and used correctly, (sometimes it’s something they don’t notice right off) but might nudge them toward a better gift this year, or at least the same gift.

Number 4 in the same article is “Give donors a choice on what to give”. Now this is where smart and effective variable can come into play.

On your next dm piece, consider the options in terms of variable. Less isn’t necessarily more, but it boils down to smarter use of the technology.

Variable success

At the AMA conference we met Elaine Fogel,  she had the excellent foresight to schedule a group dinner at a restaurant beforehand,  and it was an awesome opportunity to get to know some people better.  Thanks, Elaine! 

I checked out her blog this morning and she wrote about the possible pitfalls with using variable data in your direct mail efforts. We’ve been able to do some really great projects because our customer kept great data.  It makes all the difference in the world. 

  Some ideas on data to collect in addtion to the typical demo info: 

Past giving history,  Wealth information ( if not known it’s very easy to do wealth screening on your lists),  nicknames, birthdays or any meaningful anniversary with your organisation,  length of involvement with your org.

 Elaine is right,  variable data can be an extremely powerful tool when used correctly,  but it can also be a liability.

We’re back…

Terri and I just got back from the AMA non profit marketing conference in Washington, DC.  It was a great event and we met some incredible people.   

The key thing that was stressed over the course was that marketing is not just your collateral.  Marketing must be part of all aspects of your organization, from the person who answers the phone to your volunteers and board.  Everyone should be telling the same story and marching to the same drum.