We recently completed a focus group for the Salvation Army in Atlanta. The participants were people who were sent a direct mail acquisition piece and did not respond. All of these people were actively supporting one or more similar organizations.

One of the exercises in the focus group has the participants give away $100. This graph demonstrates the extreme competition for the donors’ dollar.

Here’s what these active donors told us – in their own words – about why they didn’t support the Salvation Army:

• Unaware they had a need:
  • “ . . . they are self contained, they don’t have any needs.”
• Don’t know enough about how they help my community:
  • “I know my mom and dad they gave to the Salvation Army. Since they’ve passed on I still get mail to their name and they’ve been dead five years but . . . I don’t know much about it or what they stood for in the past. I don’t know much about them.”
• Give to smaller, “direct benefit” organizations:
  • “In my household we only have so much to give and we tend to give to direct benefit organizations where we feel like that 50 bucks is gonna make a difference to that organization I really don’t feel like 50 bucks is gonna make a difference the Salvation Army or the Red Cross.”
• Never been asked directly:
  • “I’m sure there is a need there but um its just in my mind from past experiences I’ve just associated them with the ringing of the bell, I give at Christmas, I do every time, I do give them money for that but I’ve never thought of giving to them other than Christmas.”
• It is too structured/old fashion:
  • “ . . . when I see those suits that just kind of tires me out, but they need to change their image and bring it up to date.”
  • “I have not given because of the structural level. I would give to the organization if they advanced its image to the 21st century and that’s it, I think it’s just, it seems to be old and out dated.”
• It is too religious/evangelical:
  • “ . . . the whole emphasis on the religion first . . .  I mean I want a clarification, I’m going to go home and get on their website and learn more about them.”
  • “ . . .they are perceived as an organization that’s primary purpose is to indoctrinate people into a religion.”

Glad the participants held back!

The morning after the focus group, we gathered with some senior leadership of the Salvation Army to review the results. It was a dynamic conversation to say the least. Based on what we heard the previous evening, here are our six big ideas:

1. Identify and equip “Army” champions and leverage their social networks to spread the word about The Salvation Army doing the most good in the local community.
2. Start placing “tags” on the Salvation Army’s Christmas Kettles to provide an avenue of information on what TSA does.
3. Expand Angel Tree to additional groups in need, like elderly shut-ins.
4. Make it easier for people to have meaningful volunteer opportunities.
5. Focus your website on telling the story of how you are helping the local community.
6. Lift direct mail performance with integrated multi-channel support and PR.

It is possible to still acquire donors, but the obstacles require us to engage the donor beyond just the mail. Every avenue of communication is required to mount a successful campaign. Yeah, this takes more work and more coordination. You have to have a plan then work then plan. We can help with that. After all, that’s what we do.

Tags: acquire, donors