Pipelines and Pyramids: Building Annual Giving Programs That Last
By GIJP Mentors Dan Kirsch and Julia Riseman
Architecturally speaking, pipelines and pyramids may not be the flashiest of structures compared with, say, the Taj Mahal, the Guggenheim in Bilbao, or your newest camper cabin.
Strong, enduring, utilitarian – the pipeline and the pyramid are just the right images to highlight the importance of building your camp’s annual giving program. Along with major gifts, capital campaigns, and Legacy programs (a.k.a. planned giving), annual giving is a key component of a comprehensive development program that is built for long-term growth and success.
An effective annual giving campaign is not an afterthought or a “when we have time” proposition. It’s not about dashing off an appeal letter to capture the end-of-year flurry of charitable giving. Annual giving programs that last are carefully planned, deliberately implemented, and results-focused.
“Channeling” a Culture of Philanthropy
Annual giving typically generates large numbers of gifts of all sizes that directly support current needs – precious, flexible operating dollars that empower your camp to respond to immediate needs and emerging opportunities. Those annual gifts are usually generated through a variety of methods – the popular term is “channels” – including face to face solicitation by volunteers and staff, direct mail appeals, phonathons, e-mail campaigns, and special events.
Annual giving also helps to develop a camp’s culture of philanthropy. Such a culture honors the role that philanthropy has played in your camp’s success. It is not built on only the few mega gifts that name your camp’s newest buildings. Rather it is grown and nurtured over many years through many types of gifts in all amounts. Annual giving allows camp fans of all financial means to express their appreciation for the way their camp experience has enriched their lives. That is the pyramid – built on a broad foundation of more modest annual gifts and rising to sustain higher and higher levels of support.
Creating Value for a Lifetime…and Beyond
Beyond the immediate benefits of each year’s total dollars raised, annual giving programs also build long-term value based on the loyalty, consistency, and dependability of your donor base. Your camp may have calculated the long-term value of each additional camper you enroll. Have you considered the lifetime value of each camp donor?
Think about this:
If your annual giving program raises $50,000 from your camp’s fans, that annual income is roughly the equivalent of the return on a $1 million endowment. Your camp may not have such endowed assets (especially for operating funds), but you certainly have a tremendously valuable asset in the thousands of people who love your camp. Your annual giving program is the vehicle that generates the return on all of that goodwill and gratitude.
And one other thing to keep in mind. Research has shown that loyal, consistent, annual support throughout a donor’s lifetime (not necessarily at a top gift level) is the single best predictor of a person’s leaving a charitable bequest (Legacy gift).
Mind Your Data
So as you work to inform, engage, solicit, and steward your constituents for their annual support, you are not only generating more precious operating dollars to respond to your camp’s current needs, but you are also grooming your camp’s next generation of major donors, campaign chairs, Legacy participants, board members, etc. That’s the pipeline that annual giving can build for you.
Building the kind of loyalty that creates a strong donor pipeline requires a commitment to learning from each year’s results and refining future activities accordingly. That’s why it is so important to have reliable constituent data and protocols for collecting, tracking, and analyzing the data most relevant to annual giving. (Click here to read more about how to track and segment your constituent data for annual giving.). The more you can learn about the communications preferences of your audience and the appeals that are most compelling to your various constituents the better you will become at personalizing and targeting your annual giving activities to maximize the return on your work.
In the long run, your commitment to planning, executing, tracking and analyzing your annual giving performance will help to create the Taj Mahal of development programs and the enduring and impactful culture of philanthropy that your camp deserves.