Robert H. Lane, MBA, Ph.D. Lane Services, LLC Richard Gaines, PMP - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Robert H. Lane, MBA, Ph.D. – Lane Services, LLC Richard Gaines, PMP – Salesian Missions

Today’s presenters

 Robert Lane, MBA, Ph.D.

 CEO, Lane Services, LLC  Authorized iMIS Solution Provider since 2003  Authorized iMIS Fundraising Professional  Doctorate in Information Systems (dissertation on

fundraising software)

 Serve on board of COMMON Education Foundation (an

association foundation)

 Fundraising since college

2 Ask the Right Person for the Right Gift at the Right Time . . .

Today’s presenters

…continued

 Richard Gaines, PMP, is an independent consultant

implementing innovative solutions for non-profits. He has worked with Salesian Missions to migrate their fundraising to iMIS from a mainframe system and improve their fundraising systems. At their request, Mr. Gaines has made several presentations on the challenges and solutions that Salesian Missions has faced and implemented to clients and at NiUG International (iMIS user group).

 Previously Richard worked at IBM for over 25 years where

he was a consultant and senior project manager using his experience and expertise to address clients’ business issues through a combination of process improvements and advanced technology.

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First step

 Before you begin your segmentation project,

the quality of your data is paramount - add data clean up efforts to what we’ll talk about today for maximum effectiveness…

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The plan: RFM

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Direct Mail Cost Comparison

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Analyze your segments

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• Small cells
• Delete those that don’t yield $
• Offer special premium or incentive to

certain segments

• What are your segments?

The Mechanics

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Interpret the results

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Welcom e Offers Test 1x a year Best Offers Win Them Back

Stay top of mind - inc. frequency Try to get back

• don’t go crazy

Act on the results

Standard RFM Definition

• # of Segments in each ‘bucket’

Rankings

Highest Value Lowest Value

Standard RFM Definition

– Create a Population Query (the ‘universe’)

Standard RFM Definition

– Create a Transaction Query

Standard RFM Definition

– Sample Results

Most Valuable Segment

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 Top Value  3 Recency  3 Frequency  3 Monetary  9 Total Value

3+3+3=9

Details behind RFM

 Contacts = Recency & Frequency  Amounts = Monetary Values  Used to determine rankings

• Founded in 1859 by St. John Bosco
• 2nd largest order in Roman Catholic Church
• Providing customized services

– Food, Clothing, Healthcare, Job-Skills, Dignity

• Caring for poor children in 130 countries

– More than feeding poor and homeless children – Focus on rebuilding lives, self

• sufficiency

– Over 3 million children have received services

• 82% of all donations go directly to programs

Salesian Missions

Fundraising at Salesian Missions

• Multiple targeted appeals per year

– Sophisticated selection algorithms – Most include outside lists and test mailings – All are tracked to refine future mailings

• Heavily Direct Mail
• Online giving/social media
• iMIS replaced an aging mainframe system

– 20 years of customization and improvements – Little, if any, process documentation existed – No inventory or internet access was available

Fundraising at Salesian Missions

Selection and keying instructions: A. Input = iMIS House File – EOD 3/16/12 B. Output = select records as per the following criteria. C. Explanation of selection/keying criteria: 1) 13-18 Months = date of most current (latest) donation is in this time frame. 2) $5-9.99 = Highest Donation Amount given in the 24 months prior to the latest donation date above is in this range. a. If this Highest Donation Amount has one of the following purpose codes or source codes ignore this transaction and search for the donor’s next highest donation, within the 24 month period, which is not one of these purpose codes or source codes:

• A. Purpose Codes: AN

UU ST II CH MS RD UP

• B. Source Code: EG

SD b. Any donor whose transactions are all ignored should be given the “Misc.” Key Code as specified on the attached keying instructions. c. Exceptions: 1. If a Donor’s record has 2 or more “BC” (Bounced Check) Purpose Transactions and does not have the equal quantity of “RC” (Returned Check) Purpose Transactions, then ignore this record completely. 2. If a Donor’s record has one of the following Service Codes or Promotion Codes, then ignore this record completely: a. Service Codes: 3S – No Appeals 41 – Mail Sweeps only 1X a year 8A - January sweeps only 8C - March sweeps only 8G - July sweeps only 8I - September sweeps/Christmas only 8J - Datebooks only 8K - November sweeps only b. Promotion Codes: FR – Stop all mailings FN – Stop all mail – Undeliverable address DR – Deleted (Deceased) FO – Stop all mailings except Magazine. c. If the record is a Foreign address, then ignore this record completely. Continued…

Sometimes RFM is not enough

and additional criteria is required for the selection

Fundraising at Salesian Missions

House House House Catholic Non-Sect Spanish Last 12 Months Donors Key Key Key (April 2011 to Current Date)

• a. $.01 – 4.99

GEC01 GEN01 GES01

• b. $5 – 9.99

GEC02 GEN02 GES02

• c. $10 – 19.99

GEC03 GEN03 GES03

• d. $20 – 49.99

GEC04 GEN04 GES04

• e. $20 – 49.99 – No Stamps

GEC05 GEN05

• f. $50 – 99.99

GEC06 GEN06 GES05

• g. $50 – 99.99 – No Stamps

GEC07 GEN07

• h. $100 – 499

GEC08 GEN08 GES06

• i. $100 – 499 – No Stamps

GEC09 GEN09

• j. $500 – 999

GEC10 GEN10 GES07

• k. $500 – 999 – No Stamps

GEC11 GEN11

• l. $1,000 & Over

GEC12 GEN12 GES08

• m. $1,000 & Over – No Stamps

GEC13 GEN13

• n. “Misc.”

GEC14 GEN14 GES09 13-18 Months Donors (October 2010 to March 2011)

• a. $5 – 9.99

GEC15 GEN15 GES10

• b. $10 – 19.99

GEC16 GEN16 GES11

• c. $20 – 49.99

GEC17 GEN17 GES12

• d. $50 – 99.99

GEC18 GEN18 GES13

• e. $100 – 499

GEC19 GEN19 GES14

• f. $500 – 999

GEC20 GEN20 GES15

• g. $1,000 & Over

GEC21 GEN21 GES16

• h. “Misc.”

GEC22 GEN22 GES17

Sometimes RFM is not enough

and additional segmentation is required for the selection

Fundraising at Salesian Missions

Customization / 3rd parties help iMIS fit

• Lane Services wrote customization for:

– Selections via SQL queries – Interface with coupon imaging system – Support for different gifts based upon donation $ – Gift Entry with advanced logic

• 3rd Party software purchased for:

– AutoDraft – recurring credit card transactions

Fundraising at Salesian Missions

Spreadsheet used to support custom SQL

Fundraising at Salesian Missions

Lessons learned

• The tool should fit your business model

– i.e., don’t force your business to fit the tool

• Your iMIS partner’s skill is

very important

– Test Fundraising / iMIS knowledge beforehand

• Test, test, test – and backup often!

– Don’t be afraid to customize

Fundraising at Salesian Missions

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Custom Front-end appeal selection application

• Select previous ‘house’ donors using RFM values
• Select prospects from rented lists
• Assign key codes (appeal codes) for mailing scan line
• Create activity history
• Import to lookup system to be ready for receipt of $$$

Fundraising at Salesian Missions

Fundraising at Salesian Missions

Fundraising at Salesian Missions

Fundraising at Salesian Missions

Fundraising at Salesian Missions

Fundraising at Salesian Missions

Bottom Line

• Every organization is different
• Don’t expect ‘one size fits all’ solution
• Review your possibilities & be open to business

process improvement

• Know your donors and prospects
• Use RFM (or a variation thereof) to ask the right people

for the right amount at the right time

Fundraising at Salesian Missions

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Richard Gaines, PMP Salesian Missions New Rochelle, NY http://www.salesianmissions.org Robert Lane, PhD Lane Services, LLC Philadelphia, PA (215) 856-0908 info@lane-services.com http://www.lane-services.com