# How do Virtual Gifts affect supporter income? - Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2008/11/25/how-do-virtual-gifts-affect-supporter-income/ - Published: 2008-11-25T11:33:41+00:00 - Author: Howard Lake If it’s nearing Christmas it must be A Time for Virtual Gifts. You know the kind of thing, not a merchandise catalogue, but one in which people are asked to gift the charity’s ‘products’ to friends and family, instead of a buying them a Christmas present. And the question is, ‘Do they work? If you ever wondered what effect asking supporters to buy Virtual Gifts might have on the future performance of your donorbase, you may be pleased with the answer, uncovered by a piece of research by TW CAT using our proprietary benchmarking tool, BenchMach®. ## Advertisement TW CAT developed a Virtual Gift Catalogue for an international charity and mailed it to a random split of donors; one group received the Virtual Gift Catalogue and the other did not but both groups were selected for the next two mailings: a traditional donor appeal and a thank you reminder. People responded differently; some bought a gift, some didn’t (and some weren’t sent the Virtual Gifts Catalogue). But what happened afterwards when we plugged the numbers into BenchMach® is the most interesting thing. Nothing. Nothing changed. Donors who’d bought a gift responded to the subsequent donor mailings no differently to donors who hadn’t bought a gift or donors who didn’t even receive the Virtual Gifts Catalogue. Overall the BenchMach® report showed that the result of the Virtual Gift Catalogue mailing wasn’t noticeably different to an appeal mailing in that it was the best- performing donors who responded. Consequently it therefore proved a useful way of adding another mailing into a programme that would continue to deliver donations, income levels and a return on investment, exactly as if the catalogue had never been mailed nor the additional income received. You might call it bunce. (Please contact me if you’d like a copy of the report). al******@******co.uk * **[Charities urge public to buy charity Christmas cards](https://fundraising.co.uk/2008/12/05/charities-urge-public-buy-charity-christmas-cards/)**( 5 December 2008) * **[Christian Aid reports ethical gift sales up by 372%](https://fundraising.co.uk/2008/12/09/christian-aid-reports-ethical-gift-sales-372/)**( 9 December 2008) * **[Andrex® sets out to raise £150,000 for Teenage Cancer Trust this winter](https://fundraising.co.uk/2008/12/11/andrex-sets-out-raise-150000-teenage-cancer-trust-winter/)**( 11 December 2008) ## Comments ### By: Redina Kolaneci - Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2008/11/25/how-do-virtual-gifts-affect-supporter-income/#comment-3396 - Published: 2008-11-25T22:37:13+00:00 I think Vitrual Gift Catalogues work well for well known charities who have strong brands and large databases or for those who adopted this tool early on. Right now the market is saturated with Virtual Gifts catalogues right left and centre and reports about their impact are at best contradictory. Some charities seem to do exceptionally well and others just barely covering costs. I would be interested to find out more about the ROI of the catalogue for the ‘average’ charity not only in terms of income but also in terms of new donors vs. multi-year donors. Also, if the gifts are for someone else what are the charities doing to cultivate these potentially new supporters … and if any have already done so what are the outcomes of the cultivation process. Let’s be honest: to what extent do we truly view the virtual gifts catalogue as a strategic fundraising and marketing tool rather than another piece of mailing that goes along the lines of what everybody else in our field is doing? And I for one am a bit feed up with ‘receiving’ chickens again for that nameless village in Africa… what about you? Redina Kolaneci Senior Fundraising & Stewardship Consultant McConkey/Johnston International UK [http://www.mcconkey-johnston.co.uk](http://www.mcconkey-johnston.co.uk) ### By: Alastair Irons - Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2008/11/25/how-do-virtual-gifts-affect-supporter-income/#comment-3397 - Published: 2008-11-26T10:43:20+00:00 I agree – Virtual Gifts need to be planned into a charity’s long-term fundraising programme in exactly the same way as every other ‘product’. But if you can add anything to your programme that raises funds at measurably zero impact (and I’ve seen the same thing happen with raffles by the way) then it’s worth doing – if only for the likes of the (sometimes) nameless people in nameless villages who end up healthier, better educated or living longer as a direct result. Alastair Irons Executive Creative Director, [http://www.twcat.co.uk](http://www.twcat.co.uk) Chairman of Trustees, [http://www.iprescue.org.uk](http://www.iprescue.org.uk) Director, [http://www.ourworldoursay.org](http://www.ourworldoursay.org)