The Full Story
La Sierra University aimed to supercharge their giving day’s impact by delivering personalized messages to distinct donor groups. To bring this vision to this, the team turned to Pledgemine by EverTrue, utilizing its flexible tools to create a series of segmented direct mail and digital appeals. This strategic approach to segmentation was designed to resonate with the diverse demographics within their donor base.
Segmentation Strategy:
In October, the La Sierra team kicked off their campaign with “Save the Date” postcards to a broad audience within their database. These postcards were designed to be visually appealing, simple to read, and easy to pin on a bulletin board or fridge, ensuring high visibility and recall. To further personalize their outreach, La Sierra segmented their direct mail appeals into 28 distinct groups.
La Sierra’s Giving Day is first segmented by department—Biology, Business, Criminal Justice, and 11 others—totaling 14 in all. Each department can propose its own projects to fund, while a general “student scholarship” category is available for donations that don’t align with a specific department. Additionally, a line at the bottom of the mailer allows recipients to specify a particular project or area they’d like to support. Even the “P.S.” in each letter is customized to reflect this segmentation!
For donors aged 45 and older, they mailed 14 traditional appeal letters customized to align with specific departments or projects that the donors had previously shown interest in. This targeted approach increased the relevance and impact of the appeals.
Meanwhile, another 14 segmented appeal postcards were aimed at younger alumni aged 45 or below. These postcards included QR codes for easy access to donation pages, catering to the tech-forward preferences of the younger demographic.
Several departments sent out their own communications and marketing efforts alongside the work done by the Annual Fund.
In addition to direct mail, La Sierra implemented a segmented email strategy to complement their postal appeals. A series of emails were sent to the entire database, including “Save the Date” notifications, reminders, follow-ups to the direct mail appeals, a “Giving Day Donate Here” link, and a “Thank You” email.
“Direct mail is one of the strongest drivers of donations I’ve seen, because it’s a huge point of contact. The campaigns for departments that don’t send out a mailer don’t perform nearly as well.” — Kristine Barker, Annual Fund and Advancement Communications Director
Outcome:
La Sierra University’s segmented approach and multi-channel strategy delivered impressive results. The campaign raised a total of $523,702 with approximately 279 donors contributing around gifts. Fourteen departments actively participated in the campaign, showcasing the support the campaign received across the university.
The segmented mailings and strategic use of Pledgemine significantly enhanced donor engagement and increased overall contributions. Departments who had a segmented appeal and email go on their behalf had 90% more donor participation on average than those who did not. In addition, departments sending their own communictons in addition to those of the annual fund saw payoff for their efforts. Those that ran their own outreach for Giving Day saw 80% higher donor participation compared to those that didn’t. On average, these departments exceeded their fundraising goals, reaching 107% of their targets.
By tailoring messages to specific donor groups, La Sierra effectively captured the attention and generosity of their diverse donor base. Kristine’s innovative use of Pledgemine provided a flexible and cost-effective solution, allowing La Sierra to experiment with new formats and segmentation strategies.
Takeaways:
La Sierra’s success highlights the importance of understanding donor demographics and preferences, as well as the benefits of leveraging advanced tools like Pledgemine for targeted fundraising campaigns. The outcome of La Sierra’s Giving Day campaign serves as a promising blueprint for future fundraising initiatives, underscoring the value of strategic planning and the advantages of using adaptable, visually appealing direct mail formats to achieve fundraising goals.
