AUDIENCE ENCHANTMENT = HIGHER LONG TERM ROI
I’m proud of Sublimity clients. They continue to make smart, long-term investments in developing and promoting experience-based sustainer programs that their audiences love.
Looking out at our sector at large, March 2023 is seeing a regrettable number of faith-based nonprofits overreact to weak 2022 year-end numbers by slashing their mid/long-term investments in order to plough more money into short-term fixes.
For example, I know of a couple large, traditional nonprofits which are walking away from funding sustainer program growth in order to redirect those investments into new donor acquisition.
But the math is clear:
Recruiting donors and prospects into an enchanting monthly sustainer program = 9.5-12.0 long-term ROI (LT-ROI = 5yr time period).
Acquiring prospects to become new single gift donors = 3.5-5.0 LT-ROI.
These organizations are choosing to move money from a better mid/long-term investment into a lower-performing opportunity.
It’s mystifying. (Well, kind of.)
One problem is that too many organizations have lost the discipline of rigorous, disciplined strategy and have fallen into a habit of mainly relying upon annual planning.
Other leaders are simply making emotional decisions: they want to see those higher active donor count and will pay any price to get it.
But a lot of leaders simply misunderstand how human beings (it’s always good to remember that your donors are human beings) live their lives and make decisions. So these leaders are content to “understand” people only through data and use whatever easy fundraising tactics “get results”.
While this kind of thinking does, yes, lead to “getting results”, they never get to the amazing results - the amazing growth - they could be experiencing.
I know, because when I was a nonprofit fundraising executive, I made all of those mistakes at one time or another. I can personally understand how it happens!
Getting to those high LT-ROIs requires caring to get to know your audiences as people not simply as data. And then to let the rich insights from these wonderful people guide the imaginative creation of fresh, sustainable new encounters they can have with your mission. That’s what leads to remarkable long-term growth.
That 9.5-12.0 LT-ROI range I show above are recent numbers for Sublimity productions.
Sure, I talk a lot about things like “firing the imagination” and “the Enchantment Cycle” and “Imagination Marketing”.
But it’s not fluff.
It’s about getting real results.
It’s about growing your organization’s impact a lot more than what can be provided by sticking with knee-jerk, short-term strategies.
(It’s also way more fun.)
