The strategy behind an annual fund campaign

The following outlines strategies behind/requirements of a Cedar annual fund campaign intended to run from October 2007 through the end of 2008.

Campaign Messages Should:
• Look, sound, and feel like a message from The Cedar Cultural Center
• Suggest that fundraising revenue will help The Cedar do new and exciting work (not just to maintain current operations or to "stay in business")
• Focus on benefits to the community rather than to The Cedar itself
• Ask each individual for a specific amount
• Create a reason to give now
• Build a consistent donor base (emphasize annual support – we don’t want donors to just give once over the course of the campaign, we want them to give every year)
• Make the donor feel like a known, indispensable member of the Cedar community
• Include interesting, memorable pieces and messages

















Goals:
Primarily, get potential donors to
1) Know
2) Believe
3) Do
• Stimulate the contribution of unrestricted funds
• Raise an awareness of the organization and its responsibility to raise money
• Develop a base of knowledgeable volunteers or "advocates"
• Cultivate prospects for future giving

Campaign Strategy
All campaign messages and activities, though they can take on different forms and have different content, must be consistent with a communication strategy. Effective communication between an organization and its constituents maintains "brand messages," ensuring that communications reinforce each other and do not contradict each other. If The Cedar is to achieve its potential in generating annual fund and ticket sales revenue, it is critical that all advertising, appeals, and general communication components are consistent with the communication strategy. The central message(s) of the campaign should be repeated often and in a variety of ways. Repetition is important to enhance exposure; variety is important to capture the range of perspectives among audience members and to ensure that the messages will not be perceived as stale. Good campaigns are based on a strong central idea integrated into all communications whose repetition will intensify recognition and recall. Appropriate positioning and branding are critical to ensuring that campaign messages are easily identifiable and recognizable, that they reinforce the goals of the campaign, and that they win the target groups' acceptance. The branding features of the The Cedar should include a campaign name and logo that can effectively position messages as credible and important. While the messages, tactics, and strategies of the campaign will differ according to audience and may change over time, a brand position will help identify these varied components as parts of a single campaign. Tailoring the campaign's universal messages to respond to regional, ethnic, cultural, gender, age, and interest differences among members of the target audiences will require use of a variety of vehicles and variations on the central message or theme.

The following will be used as vehicles through which to disseminate each campaign “story.”
• Lobby/ In-House
o Posters
o Fliers
o Announcements
• Newsletter
• Direct Mail
o Personalized letter
o 4 color fold-over
o Postcard
• Email
• Phoning
• Personal Meetings
• Webpage
o Blog
o Video
o Photos
• Compile videos onto DVD and use for a future appeal/cultivation contact

Other contacts to be made over the course of the campaign:
• January 2008: 2007 donor report
• Thank you notes
• Invitation to the audience members to communicate with us in some way
• Connect with The Cedar event
• Need a way to continue collecting contact information from new donor prospects so we are continually growing our potential donor base

I've divided the campaign audience into three targeted groups based on donor activity: acquisition, renewal/lapsed, and increased. There will be one overall message for the campaign with targeted messages to each of these three groups.

Targeted messages for "acquisition"
-We're expanding our community.
-We're reaching to acquire a specific number of new donors

Contacts:
-Email
-Postcard
-Newsletter Insert
-In-house - posters, thermometer, donor guide, announcements

Targeted messages for "increase"
-Emphasize community
-Provide recognition for leadership donors
-Emphasize taking ownership
-Discuss the future - capital campaign
-The Cedar is getting to know our stakeholders
-Add personal touch – hand-signed letters?

Contacts:
-Meetings
-Letter
-Follow up phone call from Adrienne
-Newsletter Insert
-DVD Mailing
-Recognition Premium
-Ticket Mailing with handwritten note

Targeted messages for "renewal/lapsed"
-Recognizing them as supporters/members of the community
-Asking them to get more involved by introducing friends to the organization?
• Upon clicking “submit” when making a donation, can an email form pop-up with the purpose of sending a friend a solicitation or an "invitation to donate?"

Contacts:
-Email
-Mailer
-Newsletter Insert