St. Vincent Meals on Wheels: Eleven Ways to Help Your Direct Marketing Program Weather this Economic Storm
Los Angeles, CA

It’s not business as usual here at Schultz & Williams. During the most difficult fundraising climate in decades, St. Vincent Meals on Wheels (SVMOW) in LA generated 60% more donor revenue in December 2008 than in December 2007. Year over year, their revenue is up 13%!

How did Schultz & Williams help to turn today’s economic decline into a positive fundraising outcome for St. Vincent Meals on Wheels?

By remaining aggressive, maximizing flexibility and weighing every message...

Here’s what worked:

• Honesty. We addressed the economic crisis head on and acknowledged that donors may be making fewer charitable contributions during these tough economic times. Then, we clearly stated why St. Vincent Meals on Wheels must remain a priority charity.
• Disclosure. SVMOW shared critical financial information with their donors telling them exactly—down to the penny—the budget shortfall they were facing due to rising food and gas prices and increasing demand for meals.
• Format changes. We eliminated premiums and involvement devices from the mailings in order to emphasize the message of urgency. We also used the mail to notify donors that SVMOW would not be sending their traditional New Year’s cards and labels this year—a responsible budget-saving decision.
• Priority mail. St. Vincent’s Circle of Angels mid-level giving program is its most profitable fundraising effort. We identified the top 300 donors to this program and mailed their package in a priority mail envelope with a cover letter from the executive director explaining the organization’s urgent financial situation.
• Additional follow-up. As a rule, the mid-level giving program includes two follow-up mailings and a phone call. We increased the number of follow-up contacts to a segment of the non-responders and emphasized urgency; this effort increased overall participation in the campaign.
• Better tracking. We didn’t leave anything to chance—wondering if all the mail delivered or how it was actually performing. We used "track and trace" (Intelligent Mail Barcoding) on all of our direct mail communications and followed mail delivery through the postal system in real time.
• Consistent messaging. Our key message never strayed from the urgent need to raise additional money to close the budget gap and meet the increased demand for meals. We utilized all available communications’ vehicles—e-mails, postal mail, the website, events and volunteer gatherings to drive this message home!
• Aggressive asks. SVMOW’s quarterly newsletter, Bread Basket, traditionally features special programs, events and client successes. This year, the newsletters included "urgent need to give" messages and an upfront request for contributions.
• Staying focused on the core audience. Acquiring new donors is still a major priority for St. Vincent Meals on Wheels. However, during these tough economic times, we needed to mitigate the risk of new donor acquisition. Therefore, we spread out the acquisition investment and mailed the lapsed, warm prospect and top continuation files more frequently.
• Additional online communications. We added more online communications to update donors about closing the budget gap, SVMOW’s expanded meal service and non-traditional ways they can give.
• Keeping our eye on the prize. We never lost sight of St. Vincent’s long-term fundraising goal: to build and cultivate a grassroots base of support that will provide major and enduring funding to sustain the organization. Therefore, we continued to steward major gift prospects and market the legacy society. The result? Planned gift revenue is double this fiscal year from last.

In December 2008, donor appeal income was up 10% and acquisition income was up 5%. These revenue increases are due to more donations (overall, donations are up 5%) and an increased average gift.

Most important, we did it without spending additional money—if we increased costs by using priority mail or "track and trace"in one campaign, we decreased the production values or the volume of mail from another.

St. Vincent Meals on Wheels is now poised to successfully solicit their donors into the New Year—and beyond. We know that with careful cultivation, these are our best donors—the people who continued to support the organization during these difficult times.

These strong results allowed St. Vincent Meals on Wheels to close the budget gap and continue to feed over 2,400 homebound seniors a hot meal everyday.