It’s more than ironic that a large nonprofit employing both a $5 million direct response acquisition program and a F-2-F program costing the same $5 million will cumulatively spend hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars on the preparation of their direct mail package, but totally neglect any significant investment in the training and monitoring of its canvassers.

Most F-2-F operations care only  about is volume – the number of new donors acquired—period.  Not the experience of the donor.  Not the retention rate.  And certainly not the canvasser.  They are paid per donor and the goal is to increase that revenue while keeping costs low.  It is this volume-only mindset that assures the ultimate failure or sub-par performance of a F-2-F program.

You see, canvassers are to F-2-F what the package and copy are to direct mail—the messenger and motivator to the donor.  Ironically, there are hundreds of blogs, books and webinars on direct response copy and creative… hundreds of skilled copywriters employed in preparing the package…and endless testing aimed at “beating the control,” but sadly little or no serious thought and little testing and evaluation is involved when it comes to the multi-million expenditure for F-2-F.

Why this myopic and ultimately self-destructive mindset?

To better understand why nonprofits would spend millions on F-2-F but largely ignore the key engine of success — the canvasser—I interviewed Richard Duke, the National Canvass Director of DVCanvass . For 10 years prior to joining DVCanvass Richard was a part of Greenpeace USA’s much-touted in-house canvass operation, serving most recently as National Training Director.

I framed my questions around areas I consider most important in assuring a high-value, sustainable, and growing F-2-F program:

• The quality/training of the canvassers
• The experience and satisfaction of the new donor with the solicitation process
• The capture by the organization of key donor data, e.g. satisfaction, commitment, and donor identity
• The effective use of this information/data by the nonprofit to provide the best, personalized donor experience and assure maximum retention.

Every one of these four elements are essential if the ultimate business goal— maximizing total net lifetime value for your charity—is to be realized.

Sadly, Richard’s insights confirmed what I’ve long suspected:  today’s F-2-F efforts are largely concerned with the volume of new acquisition with little or no attention paid by the nonprofits or the canvass firms to the key issue of retention.

In Richard’s words:

“Canvassers know that the organizations won’t use any of the data that could be collected during the sale in a back-end retention process.  All the organizations care about is the credit card information.

“So, if the organization doesn’t care, neither do the canvassers.  This lack of concern about using data on the part of the organization infects the canvasser’s behavior.  Pretty soon they forget to bring the welcome package…they don’t remember the donor’s name…eventually they don’t give a shit about getting this valuable information because they know they will be rewarded for what the folks back at the office are paying attention to –volume.

“And if the organizations don’t care or don’t know how to use data about the donor on the back-end then you end up with seeking only the most gross data –age, credit card, EFT, name and address.”

Quality Data Makes a BIG Difference

After a decade of managing F-2-F programs and canvassers in the “street” and “at the door” Richard says there’s a far better way. “By prioritizing the acquisition of qualitydata over mere volume of sales you need to sign up fewer donors per week to make the program far more valuable for the nonprofit.”

Here’s the data that Richard and the teams at DVCanvass seek and why it makes a difference:

• Donor Identity and Donor Commitment at the point of sale.
• Donor Satisfaction post-sale

“When these key data elements are tied back to the individual canvasser and modeled it gives our client and us the capacity to see not only how many they sign up but the predicted lifetime value and what steps we can take to improve by qualitatively digging in and seeing what differs in approach, style and little idiosyncrasies that separate those that deliver high quality from low quality.  Differences that will never be looked at or understood if the only measuring stick is head count.  Or worse, looked at and arriving at the exact wrong answer – one that may increase volume at the expense of quality.  That works if you only care about acquisition conversion but not if you care about program profitability”

Focus on the Canvasser

If you believe that experience and skill matters in fundraising and if you’re involved with F-2-F you have to be concerned with the horrible churn rate among canvassers.  The average tenure of a F-2-F canvasser is 40 to 60 days –something no other business would tolerate save for shady boiler room telemarketers and the graveyard shift at 7-Eleven.

Some of this churn is due to the fact that otherwise-noble nonprofits tolerate the fact that their canvassers are paid below-living-wage and have few or no benefits.  Also, their work is harshly tied to output – ahhh, once more “volume” rears its ugly head.

It doesn’t have to— and shouldn’t — be this way.

In reviewing research on F-2-F payment and retention conducted by DonorVoice in the US and Europe it is clear that the ability and skill of a canvasser to both acquire data and provide the donor with a satisfying experience is critically important.  (Specifically, these studies have found that the loss of donors in the first six months can be cut in half by using these data.)

So, I asked Richard, whose DVCanvass is putting the research of its affiliated company, DonorVoice, into practice in the field, just how this translates in the selection, training and retention of skilled canvassers.

Here are the key takeaways from my interview with Richard on how and why the gathering of quality data is important for both the canvasser and the nonprofit:

• Obsessive Focus on Volume Harms Both the Organization and the Canvasser.

“The obsessive focus on volume to the exclusion of virtually everything else damages the canvasser, the organization and the donor.  When acquisition volume takes precedent over everything else canvassers focus mainly on getting a “yes” and they stop listening.

“When canvassers are measured only by the amount of money raised and the number of new donors brought in, they ignore ‘quality’.  The result is they churn through prospects, fail to listen and enter into a dialogue with the prospects and provide a satisfactory experience for the donor.  With this volume mindset they may sign up 5 new donors, have 3 quit and in their rush, piss off 10 people who will never talk to the organization.

“It’s far more valuable for the organization if we sign up 3 people, keep 2 and establish a good connection with the other 10, rather than to rush through signing up 5 only to quickly lose them.”

• Donor Satisfaction a Key Metric for Organization and Canvasser.

“The use of the “Donor Satisfaction” with the F-2-F sale is a groundbreaking metric.  Captured right after the sale the satisfaction score enables the organization and/or the canvass firm to identify those canvassers who are producing high volume, but low-quality donors from those who may have fewer sales but are bringing in donors who stick around and fulfill their pledges.

“By capturing data involving satisfaction, commitment and donor identity not only does the organization gain information that will—if used– dramatically increase retention and value, but improves the training, effectiveness and morale of the canvasser.”

• Do NOT Slavishly Marry the Canvasser to the Script

“Most canvassing operations tie the canvasser to a pre-determined script.  This is a mistake because when a properly trained canvasser actually listens and holds a conversation with the donor not only does the success rate goes up, but so does the tenure of the canvasser.  This is counterintuitive for most firms where the belief is ‘we have to teach you what to so you can hit volume.’

“For example, let’s assume a door campaign for an international child sponsorship organization.  The prospect answers the door and the canvasser explains why he’s there.  ‘That’s interesting’, says the prospect, ‘I was in the Peace Corps in Senegal and know the importance of programs like yours.

“At this point using the conventional approach the canvasser would more or less ignore this piece of information from the donor, stick to the pre-ordained script and press on for the sale. What a mistake.  The canvasser, the unspoken message conveyed to the prospect as a result of this tightly scripted approach says, ‘I don’t care about you.  I only care about the sale.’

“A far more effective alternative comes from a canvasser properly trained to listen and engage in conversation would stop…ask the prospect about his Peace Corps experience and then bring the conversation back to the mission of the organization and match the prospect’s experience and motivation with the organization’s need.

“In short, the canvasser does need to focus on the organization’s selling points and the donor’s needs, not run amok on what appeals to the canvasser) about the organization.

(Also see Part 2 in this series for more on the canvasser conversation. Roger)

Déjà vu all over again.

I began this series wondering if F-2-F will avoid the dismal fate of direct mail and telemarketing where the obsessive focus on acquisition volume overwhelms and short changes what should be an even greater focus on the donor and the data and steps required for significant donor retention.

Clearly, we know what should and can  be done.  What I fear is the multi-million-dollar waste and vast opportunity we’ll miss if F-2-F organizations continue their blind adherence to volume.

Roger

P.S. A last call for those who wish to learn more, DonorVoice and others are hosting F2F Acquisition: Oasis or Mirage on July 10th, 2-5 PM, in Washington’s National Harbor (right before the Bridge conference).  It’s for those thinking about F2F to hear from those who have entered the channel and know the details.  Speakers include Shira Mitchell from Special Olympics, Jill Miller from The Nature Conservancy, and sustaining giving gurus from One + All.  If you’re interested, please reserve your place with Nick at nellinger@thedonorvoice.com.