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Date: Fri, 25 Aug 2000 14:16:34 -0400
To: jack@west-point.org (Jack Price)
From: Bill MacLean <bill_maclean@alum.mit.edu>
Subject: FD8: Planning
So. Chatham, Mass.
TEN ASSUMPTIONS
1. There is a large reservoir of goodwill toward WPO among its members and
friends.
2. With a few changes in approach (better organization, more effective
appeals) during FD8, this goodwill can be translated into significantly
increased donor participation.
3. The biggest obstacles to increased participation in FD8 are ignorance
and inertia among prospective donors. Our first challenge is to meet these
obstacles head-on through our communications with members and others via
(mainly) our lists, websites; and, in some cases, letters.
We address "ignorance" by succinctly informing members of WPO services and
benefits; and of the need for their support for WPO. We address "inertia"
by repeating the appeals frequently to get as many as possible to translate
their goodwill into making a donation during FD8.
No magic. In my opinion, inertia is the larger obstacle; creative
repetition is the way to address it.
4. Our primary channel for communication will be the lists. The challenges
here will be to
- Grab the attention of prospective donors
- Inform them of the purpose, mission, services of WPO
- Promote the benefits they derive from WPO
- Ask them to donate
- Encourage (beg) them to donate promptly
There are obvious advantages to using e-mail as a medium and our lists as
channels...however, for us to be effective in FD8 our message must must
STAND OUT from the clutter that collects in everyone's mailbox.
- e-appeals (restricted to black and white?) should be eye-catching,
graphically distinctive, unique...beginning with the "Subject:" line
- we should co-opt the "clutter" with distinctive "headers" and/or
"footers" on all WPO traffic during the FD8 period.
5. We can expand our universe of donors beyond
- WP graduates
- WP parents
- USNA parents
and specifically solicit, by letter and/or personal contact, donations from
- Commercial "associates": advertisers, "partners," commission-sharing orgs
- Institutions: WPS's, WPPC's, AOG (maybe I'm naive on last one!)
- Companies/organizations soliciting/hiring out of the Job Bank
6. Pondering the performance stats from FD7, the biggest challenge and
opportunity we have among WPO members is to increase the participation of
WP Graduates as a group.
[% participation = (# actual donors)/(# prospective donors) x 100]
FD7 Participation:
Overall participation: (1946/16500) ~ 11.8 %
~% participation % total $ raised
mean donation ($)
WP Graduates
8
69
57**
WP Parents
23
19
38
USNA
32
9
33
** Backing out donations .GE. $1000., yields mean ~$50.
To me, the WP Graduates are primary target of opportunity; getting their
attention and action is worthy of significant creative effort. Significantly increasing their participation should be a (if not the)
primary focus of FD8.
6. We will set target of 4000 member donations to FD8, double the number of
contributions to FD7.
7. To minimize backoffice handling, members will be strongly encouraged to
make donations on-line via credit card. Jack Price will write an
"explainer" setting out the rationale.
8. Every contributor will be thanked for his donation. If necessary, we
will assemble a team of volunteers to do this.
9. Duration and scope
- Launch: September 15
- Duration: 60 days
- Amount to be raised: $100K, funding six months of operation
10. FD8 Committee. A committee of ~10 "spark plugs" will be recruited, each
responsible for focus of FD8 efforts with respect to specific group of
prospective donors.
ACTION
1. Recruit and organize "FD8 Committee." Candidates are Advisors and
Moderators with good communications skills and able to devote ~20 hours
total (?) to organizing and implementing their area of responsibility.
Areas defined by groups of prospective donors:
(A) - "Corps" (1...and all)
- WP Graduates (4-5 committee members)
- WP Parents (1-2)
- USNA Parents (1-2)
This group will prepare
- six messages to be sent to "corps," one for each week of FD8
- six messages to be sent to their respective list groups, one for each
week of FD8. These can be developed with Moderators. Ideally, they will be
sent by Moderators, too, so that Committee members remain invisible.
Alternatively, they can be used as resources from which individual
Moderators can develop their own appeals.
List members should see two appeals/reports per week, say, via "corps" on
Monday...via individual list on Thursday.
(B) - WPS's/AOG (1)
- WPPC's (1)
- Advertisers, sponsors, corporate users of Job Bank (1)
This group will prepare
- 1-2 page letter of solicitaion to be sent at the start of FD8
- letter of thanks for donations received
- Followup solicitation letter to be sent (if necessary) at end of FD8 Week 4
Working together, we should compose, coordinate and polish ALL of these
appeal messages prior to Day 1 of FD8...they will have MUCH in common. The
entire program should be "in the can" prior to rollout.
2. Assemble FD8 Websites: public; private.
- Public site will be referenced in solicitation messages. ALL
solicitation messages should BRIEF and direct prospective donors to website
for additional detail. I suspect that most of the "content" for this site
already exists, just needs to be updated and collected in one place.
- Private site should be a reference resource for FD8 workers (Advisors,
Committee, Moderators)
- archive of all solicitation materials to be sent
- latest status on progress of FD8
- etc.
3. During first week of Committee operation, members assigned to WP
Graduates should be tasked with developing assessment of reasons for low
participation of many class groups so we can address how better to reach
these members. [Sorry to harp on this! No criticism implied; just trying to
develop opportunity.]