DRTV

Faced with declining direct-mail response rates, increased competition and rising consumer skepticism, more and more nonprofit organizations are considering direct-response television (DRTV). Done correctly, DRTV is a highly effective donor-acquisition tool. The combination of powerful visuals and engaging dialogue can bring your mission to life, turning skeptical viewers into long-term donors. But it's important to understand that DRTV is not ideal for every cause. And as with every donor-acquisition channel, there are issues and challenges unique to DRTV.

What kind of message does it send to donors when a nonprofit shells out the big bucks to run a Super Bowl ad? Yes, this is an opportunity to reach more people than any fundraiser could hope for, and it certainly puts an organization in front of eyes that may not have been drawn to the organization otherwise. But in an era of accountability and fiscal scrutiny of nonprofits — whether right or wrong — it seems like spending so much money that could be invested into the organization may send the wrong message that an organization is more concerned with brand awareness than with investing in its programs and working toward its mission.

If you do it right, DRTV can be the best source of your most valuable donors — monthly sustainers — who often become middle and even major donors. More than any other medium, TV can also enrich your brand and build awareness.

But DRTV doesn’t work for every nonprofit. And just like direct mail, it requires a commitment to ongoing testing to optimize your results. Here are the 7 essentials you need to succeed.

The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation is paying for a 30-second television ad to be aired during the Super Bowl. Kauffman will be pitching “entrepreneurship.” The ad, to be run three times surrounding the Super Bowl (once before the game, once after the game and once during the game), asks football fans to ponder who will generate “the next big idea.”
The pitch is to get budding entrepreneurs to go to the Kauffman-sponsored WillItBeYou.com website, where inspired entrepreneurial fans can find resources for start-up businesses.

Here are some things to consider when trying to determine if DRTV is the right fit for your nonprofit organization and tips for successful DRTV campaigns.

To help charities around the world make the most of DRTV, this year’s International Fundraising Congress (IFC) will feature two workshops on the subject run by sector experts, Maria Phillips and Rob Patmore.

Since 2005, the average amount of time PBS member stations devote to on-air pledge drives has increased by 9 percent, according to PBS. Some stations now devote a full 10 weeks a year to the special shows.

Driving the expansion is the same theme weaving through much of public television: money. Financially troubled state governments are rapidly cutting and sometimes eliminating subsidies for public media.

Despite the attention paid to the role of social media after the earthquake in Haiti last year, many more people learned about opportunities to give from more traditional communications channels, such as television and print media, according to a new survey.

More than 63 percent of respondents said they had learned about ways to contribute from television programming, and just over 50 percent cited television commercials. More than 29 percent of participants reported that they had found out about giving through print media.

There's much debate underway regarding the effectiveness of traditional fundraising sources. We're hearing a lot about social media, the importance of websites, emerging technologies and the transitioning of direct mail to electronic media.

CARADEUX CAMP, Haiti — The movie screen rose like an apparition, in the middle of a tent city, on a hillside veined by rain. “Under the Sky,” the title card said, and sure enough, a soap opera about a family living right here suddenly appeared.

Love and scandal followed, but the episode focused mainly on one issue: con men in the camps. After a slick villain in dark sunglasses tried to sell registration cards to the show’s main characters, claiming falsely that they could be redeemed for cash, officials with the International Organization for Migration suddenly appeared to save the day.