E-mail Campaigns of the Year: Trust for Public Land and People for the American Way

“The open and clickthrough rates signal fundraiser interest in the message,” Hale continued. “A significant increase of donation activity occurred on both the day of and the day after the ITEC message was deployed. In fact, donation transaction activity increased an average of 290 percent on the day the ITEC was deployed; on the day after, average transaction activity increased 374 percent compared to days where an ITEC message was not delivered.”

Dollar amount was also positively affected: Average total daily donation dollars increased by 261 percent the day the ITEC was deployed, and total daily donations increased by 410 percent the day after the ITEC was sent. Overall, event income increased by 12 percent in 2011 (with ITEC) over 2011, when no ITEC was used.

Clearly, the ITEC e-mails — which served as reminders of the importance of keeping the peer-to-peer fundraising going and offered tips on how to do that, as well as the premium incentive — were successful in prodding walk participants to raise more money. Judge Joe Boland commented: “A great grassroots campaign.”

SILVER AWARD
Environmental Defense Fund
Year-End Campaign
Submitted by Chapman Cubine Adams + Hussey

The Numbers
Number of Recipients: 5,435,986
Response Rate: 0.12 percent
Total Cost: $1,750
Income Generated: $256,038.37
Average Gift: $68
Cost to Raise a Dollar: $0.01

Our judges were really impressed with this campaign’s strategy of using a challenge grant that effectively used current donors to help in acquisition. “Your challenge grant gift will be used to match the gift of a new supporter — $1 for $1.”

The year-end campaign was a stunning success for EDF. According to CCAH’s Lon Chapman, it raised more money online than in any previous year with a 9 percent increase over 2011, which was the previous record for most revenue raised in a campaign.