Lessons Learned from the RuffaloCON15 Fundraising Conference

Last week attendees from 100+ organizations joined us from the US, Canada, Australia and even Saudi Arabia to discuss the hottest topics and latest trends in annual giving at RuffaloCON15. For those of you not able to attend, I’d be remiss if I didn’t provide you with a few of the topics that had the conference abuzz.

Annual Giving Is Ripe for Testing and Experimentation

We all know we should test, but Judd Kessler, Assistant Professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania,  illustrated results from experiments he and his peers have conducted within the fundraising world.  Judd shared insights into how we can raise more by testing and implementing small changes across all of our channels. Over the next few months, expect to hear more from us on the latest experiments in annual giving.

Great refresher of behavioral economics classics from @juddkessler at #RuffaloCon15 this morning. #fundraising pic.twitter.com/mnqEdeh1WK

— Caryn D. Stein (@caryn74) July 29, 2015

The Dawn of Data Visualization

Across the corporate world, companies have adopted a multitude of data visualization tools to answer the burning questions that can unlock their growth. Ron Song showed us how he’s utilizing those same data visualization tools at Stanford to turn data into actionable insight and strategy.

I could listen to Ron Song from @Stanford speak forever. #RuffaloCON15
— Meredith Blair (@mereblair) July 29, 2015

Recurring Giving

If you need to maximize donor retention while increasing ROI from fundraising appeals, then you should have attended Caryn Stein of Network for Good’s session on how to build a recurring giving program. While it’s not as daunting as you might think, it does take planning and commitment to both technology and strategy.

Online Giving

Your digital strategy should be more than just a web page. We heard Justin Ware, the leading expert in digital fundraising, share examples of how to make your major donors an active part of your giving day, how to recruit effective social ambassadors from inside and outside your organization (hint…you shouldn’t do it all yourself) and why investing in digital is sure to pay dividends now and in the future.

Roughly 2/3 of people have responded to direct mail by making transactions online. Imperative to track online responses to DM. #RuffaloCON15

— Chris Hughes (@ChrisHughesRNL) July 23, 2015

Know Your Competition

Your organization is not the only one engaging and soliciting your constituents. In this session, I highlighted some of the best in class examples of how 11 organizations I gave to for the first time are using the online giving experience, engagement, solicitation and stewardship to retain 1st time donors. The lesson was clear: annual giving programs at universities need to ramp up their efforts in this new competitive donor landscape.

For those that attended…I can’t wait to see you next year. For everyone else, stay tuned to hear more about our 2016 conference in the upcoming weeks.