Looking Back a Year: A Big Reminder on American Cancer Society's Bold Move

What about the MONEY?????

If there is one thing the direct marketing community does well it is tracking and measurement. So, yes, the Society realizes there are going to be revenue ramifications associated with this decision. The direct impact is clearer than the indirect impact, but over the course of the next several years the Society is committed to monitoring all the areas that matter. But here are the projections it is operating with as of today:

● The acquisition and conversion investment represented more than 41 million pieces of mail being sent each year. That investment will be repurposed either to other, more efficient/effective fundraising programs or reallocated to mission programs in the future. But the real net revenue impact will be seen in the renewal program.

● The current renewal program generated $41.5 million in gross revenue in FY12. The fact that no new donors will be infused into the program beginning with FY13 will have an effect over time. It is estimated that the donor population available to cultivate within the renewal program over the next five years will decrease by 34 percent.

The renewal program is projected to decline by 36 percent in gross revenue by 2017. Subsequently, as attrition occurs naturally within these types of programs and with no new donors to cultivate, the net will also decline 50 percent by 2017.

● While the above statistics are based on projection models using factual data, the big unknowns are about the contributions and impact these donors have on other revenue programs.

● In FY12 alone, direct mail-acquired donors gave more than $34 million to other channels, in addition to their direct mail contributions. But, the question everyone has is about cause and effect. Even the Society has conducted tests that show event donors who receive direct mail give more money than event donors who do not receive direct mail. In reality, that is old news as there have been many tests both within the Society and in the industry to prove it. The question is whether direct mail is required to get that extra revenue. It’s a good question, and I know many industry experts who have an opinion. But, in the end, those are just opinions. Without facts to use, their challenge is to do everything possible to recoup any of that revenue with other communications or perhaps even an integrated campaign that includes direct mail.