The problem
Several years ago, community charity WRVS faced a ‘make or break’ moment in their proud history of helping older people in communities across the UK. With a limited number of donors to call upon for funds and a brand with little recognition amongst the donating public, the team’s ambitious recruitment and income targets seemed a tall order. News that a substantial government grant was soon to be removed meant the clock was ticking to find a way to fund the charity’s essential services and to secure the organisation’s long-term future.
Campaign development using motivational techniques
Working with Brightsource, the team launched a bold and aggressive recruitment drive. Our specialist campaign planning and design team were given the green light to apply our expertise in motivational techniques to re-invigorate and re-launch the charity’s existing raffle product. Our aim was to create a highly effective recruitment tool that could succeed without the support of a strong brand, and without the luxury of the major investment over time to raise awareness of WRVS’s work that would be needed to underpin a conventional cause-led fundraising programme. But at the same time, the recruitment programme had to keep hold of new supporters in the future.
Smart production
With more frequent mailings and more products on offer we’ve introduced more variety to the programme and a range of engaging devices to keep donors interested. Our in-depth knowledge of production methods and significant buying power has helped to ensure WRVS still pay the lowest prices – despite the production complexity this variety dictates. Our know-how means we can suggest cost-effective ways to design and produce communications that engage and delight supporters with involving games and new approaches. With our help, WRVS have been able to minimise costs, whilst keeping it fresh and driving donor loyalty in a crowded fundraising world.
Effective recruitment
Since the re-launch, prize-led campaigns have delivered over 100k of new supporters for WRVS, with minimum investment, over a 3 year period. Almost immediately, the programme was achieving break-even on new recruits within just 2 campaigns. By incorporating motivational techniques to involve and engage donors, the charity saw a step-change in their recruitment success that has carried through to long-term donor loyalty. Recruitment figures climbed to over three times the level seen from traditional appeals, with more than 60% of recruits going on to support the charity again within the first year. The most recent addition to WRVS’s prize-led offering is a regular giving ask, which has seen healthy numbers of the charity’s supporters choosing to support their work via a regular monthly gift.
WRVS now has a sustainable Individual Giving programme to support their important work into the future.