Does this bring in money or votes? Newsletter 25
Hey y’all, it’s Christen Sparago, Sustaining Donor Manager at the DNC! I’m back with another look at the Mobilization monthly giving program.
Team Mobz loves an executive summary, and the topline here is: with consistent investment of time and resources, and creative ideas from everyone on our team, the DNC quadrupled our monthly recurring revenue while keeping this program the most grassroots it’s ever been. I personally love to see it. Let’s get started!
Feature:
Last time, I talked about how post-election drop-off was going to be a focus for us throughout 2020. The goal was to keep our donors invested after a top-of-ticket victory (🤞) in November. Remember this chart?
It’s easy to see from this chart why mitigating drop-off would be a priority for the DNC. When one-time giving drops off post-election, our monthly donors play a critical role in keeping the doors open and the lights on. So how do we explain to our monthly donors that we still need their support after the election is over?
The answer: tell them.
Honest, straightforward communication with donors is the hallmark of the Grassroots Partners program. I spend most of my time talking to donors via phone, email, or text message, and I’ve found that when you’re trying to earn someone’s support, there is no argument more compelling than the truth. And the truth is that DNC monthly donors account for about 7% of total grassroots fundraising the month before the election, but as much as 15-25% in the months that follow.
Here’s how we built a donor-centric, revenue-positive program, before and after the election.
Pre-Election: T-minus 10… 9… 8… 🚀
Throughout 2020, we took every opportunity to explain the power of monthly giving to our supporters. Our email team included a note from me at the top of each monthly Sustainer Newsletter in which I underscored that the DNC operates year-round, and that monthly gifts would help us maintain our investments in data, tech, and Party infrastructure even past November 3.
In the weeks leading up to the election, we continued to chase every cancelled recurring gift with a text within 48 hours of cancellation explaining the power of a monthly gift in Q1 2021, and asking donors to keep giving. Simply sending these texts every week has helped us recapture over $5,000/month in recurring revenue.
Starting in September, we launched a series of Virtual Grassroots Town Halls for our monthly and mid-level donors to say thank you and explain why our work as a party doesn’t end with any election cycle. We recruited DNC officers and members of DNC leadership, candidates for U.S. Senate, current and former elected representatives, and members of our own team to join us. We answered questions our donors submitted to us about everything from Presidential debate prep to the Georgia Senate runoff, talked about how monthly donations helped us get the most money and votes in history, and said sincere thank you’s. About 4,000 of our donors attended one of these events, and so far they are 3% more likely to have kept their monthly gift active post-election than donors who did not.
Thank You, Thank You, Thank You is how President-elect(!) Joe Biden ended every staff call in the final days leading up to the election, and it summarizes our pre-election communication with our monthly donors. Regardless of the outcome of the election, we all felt that our donors deserved a proper thank you! To that end, most of our monthly donors received either a thank you note in the mail signed by me, or a similar mailing that included one of our DNC face masks. And members across the mobilization team placed thank you calls to hundreds of sustainers between Election Day and when the race was officially called.
Post-Election: Congratulations, We Made It 🛬
In previous election cycles, we’ve seen anywhere between 15-25% of donors cancel their recurring gifts in the months post-election. Almost 13% of our monthly donors cancelled their gift shortly after Election Day, but by chasing cancellations individually and ramping up recruitment of new sustainers to offset the dropoff, we’ve decreased that drop to 8%.
Text conversations like this one have helped a few hundred cancelled sustainers start new gifts in just the past three weeks.
We know not every grassroots donor can give year-round, which is why we are also focusing on recruiting new monthly donors throughout the remainder of 2020.
In November 2020, our most successful recruitment pushes for new sustainers were SMS blasts and emails about the GA Senate runoff.
Our SMS congratulating donors on taking back the White House brought on over 500 new sustainers organically, without a monthly gift ask. And over 100 donors have gone to democrats.org and started a new monthly gift since Election Day.
We’ve also sent SMS pushes to donors who made weekly gifts to the DNC and Biden Victory Fund until the election. These efforts have brought on several hundred new sustainers, as well.
In Summary…monthly giving makes it possible for grassroots donors to have enormous impact with a commitment of only a few dollars per month. We raised four times as much from monthly contributions in October 2020 as we did in October 2016 -- yet the average gift in this program has remained $18 throughout. And to top it off, in 2020, this program alone is projected to raise the same amount as the Mobilization team raised online in 2019.
Job opportunities:
In a shocking twist, we would like to use this opportunity to plug all of the incredible folks from the BFP digital and DNC mobilization teams who are on the job hunt! You know the drill.
🧵Thread we think you should read (and retweet) 🧵
Applying for jobs? We’ve got a thread for you!
Closing:
The Mobilization Team collectively invested in recurring donors, and it paid off -- literally. I’m so proud to have helped build long-term infrastructure in our Grassroots Partners program this cycle, and I’m excited to see this program continue to grow.
With you in the fight,
Christen