Merlin have their best retention after introducing new acquisition stream
Howard Lake | 26 March 2013 | News
Merlin are getting their best retention to date due to excellent fundraising and supporter care on all their income streams. One of the newer income streams and donor recruitment campaigns that has been tested has shown over 90% retention in the first year.
The donor investment programme focuses on the Merlin hero, the health worker in thee world’s toughest places who are saving people everyday in emergency situations. The campaign asks supporters to become Merlin heroes too, giving the supporter a real connection with the work in country and showing how their money is having a real impact. This works along side their other recruitment such as online, on street, where they are also asked to be a Merlin ‘hero’.
Danielle Atkinson, Head of Digital & Individual Giving said “The donor investment programme, is a 2 stage recruitment programme that uses a home money collection box. It has now been through two tests, and consistently in both, we have seen the retention much higher than in any other activity. We have worked hard to make sure all the supporters we bring on board through this method hear from us regularly through mail and phone, and this is what has made it so successful. Sounds simple but it really works.”
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The money they have raised from this campaign means that Merlin can continue to send medical experts to the frontline of emergencies like the crisis in Syria.
The campaign was run and managed by R Fundraising and the individual giving team at Merlin.
ENDS
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.