Our top client innovations in 2022

2022 was a great year for nonprofit fundraising and marketing. From innovative new strategies to data-driven insights, we celebrated many wins for our clients. 

Here are five of our favorite breakthroughs from 2022: 

1. Transforming a digital program to drive sustainer growth

When we began work with this national human services organization in 2020, we immediately set out to modernize their digital program using new technology, updated messaging and fresh creative. Next, we began a more targeted push to accelerate their sustainer program over the next two years through: 

• Redesigning their donation form to optimize monthly giving buttons, add callouts and make the ask more prominent 
• Creating a monthly email drip series to target donors who have given more than once 
• Adding an evergreen media campaign targeted at donors going through the drip series 
• Introducing an annual campaign that promotes monthly giving during May 
• Adding a monthly pop-up to the donation form triggered by giving amount

Thanks to these efforts, the organization has seen tremendous growth in their sustainer program:

2. Using modeling to uncover major donor opportunities

This international relief and development organization was looking for a way to identify major donor leads and inspire them to give. To achieve this, we implemented what we like to call the Major Donor Trifecta:  

• Our donor engagement team worked with their major donor representatives to develop relationship-building skills and performance-driving habits and behaviors. 

• Our analytics team built a model with 15,370 constituents who had previously lapsed out of a mid-major portfolio or had the capacity to give but had not yet self-identified with a large gift. 
• Our creative team developed a personalized package that presented a problem that donors could solve with a tailored, donor-centric ask and a high-value gift array based on their giving history. 

In the first 60 days after the mail date, the modeled leads gave more than $400,000 in revenue, with a:

3. Leveraging first-party data to build dynamic donor experiences

Throughout 2022, we worked on an effort dubbed “Project Convert” for a national health and disease organization. This ongoing effort focused on tests and optimizations to increase digital revenue through personalization and dynamic donor experiences. 

As a piece of this, we were focused on donation forms. The organization had data appended to their CRM in 2019 that included recommended gift arrays for many donors. Through our proprietary Digital Identity Solutions (DIS), we were able to match Digital IDs of users coming onto their website with the donor records within their CRM that had been enriched with the appended data. 

Unfortunately, because the appended data was a few years old, we needed to develop a two-layer approach to cast a wider net. We analyzed common attributes of their most generous online donors, and operating system and zip wealth were identified as the two most influential factors in terms of high-value online giving potential. Based on these data layers, we were able to serve donors with a personalized gift array.

With the dynamic gift arrays in place, the organization saw a: 

4. Implementing interactive packages to drive net revenue

This international faith-based cause had established control packages in direct mail, but they wanted to try some new ideas to better connect with their donors and lift their retention. 

RKD’s creative team worked closely with our strategists to implement a new interactive package for Christmas renewals. The test package encouraged donors to provide Christmas gifts for a child and featured:  

• Visually engaging icons, layout, design features and photography 
• State-specific statistics that engage donors on a local level 
• Innovative, integrated strategy that drives donors to online digital assets (like a Spotify playlist) 
• Ornament insert that provides a reusable keepsake to encourage connection to the mission 

This award-winning package was a huge success: 

5. Refining donor experience with segmentation

Like many other organizations, this food bank experienced record-setting growth during the COVID-19 pandemic. To ensure these donors retain, we’ve been working diligently to create a sophisticated segmentation structure that refines donor experiences based on giving habits and demographics. 

At times, this has meant integrated messaging. However, we’ve found other times where standalone messaging in digital or direct mail has more of an impact. 

With this in mind, we’ve also implemented the following donor journey tactics over the last year and a half: 

• Strategic stewardship to strengthen bond with COVID donors 

• Promotion of monthly sustainer program  
• A heavy lean into renewal efforts to capitalize off COVID growth 
• Strategic removal of digital-only donors to save costs in mail where campaigns don’t align with donor behavior 
• Adding new channels and tactics into the mix like MMS, stewardship videos and voice broadcasts 
• Auditing and optimizing SEO to improve awareness and engagement 

By creating journeys that meet donors with more personalized messaging, the food bank saw:

All in all, it was a great year for our clients, and we’re eager to see all the exciting, innovative things they accomplish in 2023. 

Interested in learning more about these breakthroughs? Contact us today!