Dealing with Data During an Emergency Catherine Burns Database & Supporter Care Manager New Zealand Red Cross #bbcon2017 Social Goodness @NZRedCross @nzredcross Facebook.com/NewZealandRedCross linkedin.com/in/catherine-burns-b742a9a7 #bbcon2017 Random fact about me Most Saturday nights, and for 24 hours in most holiday weekends, you will find me playing strategy board games with my friends and Wellington On Board members. https://boardgamegeek.com/user/KiwiCat #bbcon2017 New Zealand Red Cross Fundraising environment #bbcon2017 Red Cross and Raiser’s Edge Date Status 2013 June Went live with Raiser’s Edge combining two databases into one. 2014 October Raiser’s Edge database moved from National Office server to a private Red Cross cloud. It could only be accessed from within the Red Cross network/firewall. 2016 January Started detailed business continuity planning across the organisation and identified lack of remote access to Raiser’s Edge as a critical issue. 2016 February One remote computer was set up in Hamilton with Raiser’s Edge installed so we could process monthly payments remotely if necessary. This required a double remote desktop connection to access from outside the Red Cross network. 2016 March Added move to Blackbaud hosting to budget and business plan for the 2016/17 FY. Not scheduled due to lack of buy in from Red Cross IT to provide data and any additional support required for the transition. 2016 November We had ten Raiser’s Edge users at National Office in Wellington plus four community fundraising staff and one planned giving officer located in other parts of the country with access to Raiser’s Edge. The remote staff were not trained in donation processing. 2017 – March We went live with Raiser’s Edge NXT ☺ (I will share lot’s of visual delighted from NXT in this preso) #bbcon2017 Special Appeals 100% Guarantee When a special appeal is launched • This is a great reason to donate to by New Zealand Red Cross we New Zealand Red Cross instead of guarantee that 100% of funds one of another charity. donated by the public will be • However, it limits the budget to spend used to help people affected. on promoting special appeals. • Special appeals actually increase None of the donated funds can be fundraising expenditure with no used for publicity of the appeal or increase in funds to spend. donation processing costs. • Special appeals are popular but we still need donors to support the rest of our work – national programmes, refugee resettlement etc. where the 100% guarantee does not apply. #bbcon2017 Special Appeals for acquisition Special appeals are one of our best acquisition tools if we can convert special appeal donors to support New Zealand Red Cross’ ongoing programmes. #bbcon2017 Earthquake 12:02 am Monday November 14 2016 Photo Credit: Simon Makker/New Zealand Red Cross #bbcon2017 November 2016 Kaikoura Earthquake • Magnitude 7.8 • 2 deaths • 57 people treated for injuries • 2 minutes long • 573+ homes damaged or • 15 km deep destroyed • 110 km stretch of seabed • Triggered a 7 m uplifted by up to 6m to form a tsunami new coastline • 8,500 aftershocks • Major infrastructure damage – in the first four weeks road and rail. • Many households and communities were cut off. #bbcon2017 In context – the shaky isles This was the second (equal) largest earthquake in NZ recorded history after 1855 Wairarapa earthquake at 8.2. Same size as the Hawkes Bay earthquake in February 1931 that led the New Zealand Red Cross becoming an independent society separate from the British Red Cross. Following the quakes in Christchurch in 2010 and 2011 New Zealand Red Cross raised NZ $120 million for recovery efforts and began a number of recovery programmes for the community. #bbcon2017 Following the quake – Monday 14th November • The first donation of $100 was made through our website at 1:27 am. • An official earthquake appeal was launched online at 1 pm despite staff working from home. • NZ $450,000 received online in the first week. NZ $800,000 received online in the first month. #bbcon2017 #bbcon2017 Photo Credit: /New Zealand Red Cross #bbcon2017 Photo Credit: Simon Makker/New Zealand Red Cross #bbcon2017 Following the quake – Tuesday 15th November • Red Cross National Office was checked and considered safe. • Worked from the office on Tuesday. • 4:45 pm received a panicked message from one of the tenants next door to evacuate because their building was “about to collapse.” • Did not return to National Office until the end of January 2017 after the building next door had been demolished. #bbcon2017 Immediate challenges for donation processing Challenge Achievement Launching and promoting the appeal while • The appeal was launched online 13 hours after the quake working from home. struck. Continuing to process 35,000 monthly • Tested remotely on 14/11. donations – 12,000 due on the 1st, 15th and 20th • Successfully processed from National Office on 15/11 before of each month. evacuation. Access to Raiser’s Edge, and phone system • Database & Supporter Care team set up at Wellington Service following the evacuation. Centre the day after evacuation. Raiser’s Edge installed x 4. • Phones were diverted. • 13 new Raiser’s Edge installations done in the week following evacuation. Processing cheque donations without the use of • NZ Post mail delivery was disrupted for two weeks. National Office resources –bank deposit books, • Urgent orders of new envelopes. branded, post-paid envelopes, folding machine. • Volunteers had to hand fold receipts. A direct mail appeal was about to be printed. This was stopped, and rewritten to focus on the work of the Red Cross Disaster Welfare Support Teams with minimal delays. #bbcon2017 #bbcon2017 Dealing with data #bbcon2017 Donation streams & useful tools and services • Online donations. • The Raiser’s Edge • Multiple fundraising platforms. • QAS Batch • Direct credits. • ImportOmatic • Post / direct mail response. • SegmentOmatic • Phone donations. • Campaign Monitor • Text to donate. • Cloud based phone system • Kiwibank / NZ Post donations. • Office 365 email and intranet • Red Cross Service Centres and • Existing relationships with Charity Shops. telemarketing agencies • Community Fundraising. • Existing corporate relationships • Pledges and donations from • Paperless direct debit facility corporates and trusts. #bbcon2017 How we managed these sources • Processes had already been set up to clean and import data from these income steams • Excel and QAS Batch to clean data and addresses prior to import. • ImportOmatic to import data and minimize duplicates. • Staff and volunteers backfilled supporter care tasks to free up time to process increased volumes of donations. • A temp was employed for a few weeks to assist with supporter care enquiries and appeal donation processing. #bbcon2017 Using the data – appeal updates • Everyone wanted to know the latest appeal total • A shared Excel document was used to compile appeal updates from all the streams to estimate the appeal total even before all the data had been imported into Raiser’s Edge or been entered into the General Ledger. • We also used it to track major pledges from Corporates. • This was • Shared within the team • Used for press releases, fact sheets etc. • Emailed to other managers • Used to update a Fundometer on the wall to encourage and update all staff. #bbcon2017 #bbcon2017 Results #bbcon2017 Figures correct as of 12 December 2016 #bbcon2017 Special Appeal success #bbcon2017 Special Appeal Acquisition #bbcon2017 Special Appeal success #bbcon2017 Special Appeal by constituency #bbcon2017 Comparison with other special appeals #bbcon2017 Successful Direct Mail appeal for general funds #bbcon2017 Successful Direct Mail appeal for general funds November 2016 Direct Mail Appeal January 2017 Direct Mail Appeal #bbcon2017 Going further with data #bbcon2017 Telemarketing Conversion Campaign 1,730 names were supplied. These were segmented in Raiser’s Edge: • New donors - first ever gift to Red Cross to the Earthquake appeal. • Reactivated donors - did not receive the direct mail appeal and donated to the Earthquake appeal. Donors were told about the other work of Red Cross and asked to set up a monthly gift to support the ongoing work of Red Cross. Calling started two weeks after the disaster on 28 November and continued until the end of January. • 1,166 were reached. • 62 set up regular gifts. • 4 others made a further one off gift. #bbcon2017 Telemarketing Conversion Recurring % Number Monthly Monthly Segment Cash Gifts Gift Sum to Conversion Contacted Gifts Amount 31 July Rate New 940 $125 53 $955 $6,120 5.6% Reactivated 226 $30 9 $185 $1,205 4.0% Totals 1,166 $155 62 $1,140 $7,325 5.3% 8 months later 95% of the converted donors are still giving monthly. #bbcon2017 Direct Mail Conversion / Reactivation This was sent to 6,294 donors Segmented with SegmentOmatic in Raiser’s Edge • New donors (174) first ever gift to the Red Cross Earthquake appeal. • Reactivated donors (18) donated to the Earthquake appeal and had donated before but did not receive the standard direct mail appeal. • Lapsed special appeal donors (5,699) did not donate to the Earthquake Appeal but had donated to a special appeal in the last 13-24 months. Did not receive the standard direct mail appeal. • Long lapsed High Value (26) Christchurch donors who gave $5000+ to that appeal but had not donated in the last four years • Long lapsed donors (377) did not donate to the Earthquake Appeal and had not donated in the last four years but donated to a special appeal in the past. #bbcon2017 Direct Mail Conversion / Reactivation The direct mail went to 6,294 donors and was a slightly updated version of the direct mail piece that went to 19,000 active donors in November. The letter focused on the work of the Disaster Welfare Support Teams and donors were asked to make a donation to support the work of Red Cross. There was also an option on the response form to set up a regular gift.