The United Methodist Committee on Relief

Situation:

The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) knew that many of their donors and their prospects were reachable through email communications. But should they just choose one channel for their appeals?
 
Strategy:

Recognizing that donors who give in multiple ways are of much higher value, we delivered a campaign that allowed e-appeals to support direct mail appeals. Because some donors only give through one channel, it was important to include all of their donors with e-mail addresses in the direct mail appeal as well. It helped UMCOR stand out in a crowded field of fundraising communications and reinforced their message of need.
Results:

The UMCOR Sustainable Agriculture E-Appeal had a 36% open rate; a 3% conversion to giving; added 3.6% to their e-news subscription; and .5% of their recipients forwarded it to a friend.
In the UMCOR Preventable Diseases E-Appeal, we experienced a 38% open rate and a 1.9% conversion to giving. More than 4% of their donors subscribed to e-news and 1.2% forwarded the e-appeal to a friend.