Advocacy and Integration combine

for multi-channel success

Case Studies: Denniston and
Mokihinui
Presenter
Rebecca Scelly
Supporter Relations Manager
Forest & Bird
R.Scelly@forestandbird.org.nz
Forest & Bird History
At the forefront of conservation since 1923
Driving force behind the creation of:
NZs public conservation land
Stopping logging of native forests
Establishment of DoC
Supporter base of over 80,000
Forest & Bird Mission
To be the voice for
nature in
communities
throughout New
Zealand
Over 4,000 volunteers
clearing traps, weeding and
planting
50 Branches up and down
New Zealand
KCC childrens club
engaging the conservation
leaders of tomorrow
Strong advocacy around
marine bycatch issues, RMA
changes, EEZ Bill issues,
primary resource extraction
issues
Environmental disaster
response
Fundraising Programme
100% fundraised income
No Government funding
4 x fundraising staff + 4 x membership staff
Budget = $6,500,000
Massive income increase over the last 6 years,
since employing fundraising staff
Fundraising Programme
Sponsorship
1%
Grants
16%
Bequests
23%
Donations
8%
Regular Giving
28%
Annual Membership
10%
Telemarketing
9%
Other
5%
Integrated campaigns at Forest & Bird
Integrated
campaign
Communica
tions
Advocacy
Conservation
Marketing
Multiple
website
presence
Senior
Managemen
t Team
Tele-
marketing
e-
newsletters
Newsletter
focus
Direct mail
Appeal
News
media
Advocacy Integration
Forest & Bird has 5 Advocacy staff, 8
Conservation staff and 2 Environment Lawyers
Of these, 7 staff were heavily involved in the
Denniston campaign
Drivers a balance between campaigns that
need funding and campaigns that are likely to
get funding
Regular and open communication plus
understanding of roles
Advocacy Integration
Once Go was hit, everyone kept up the
pressure
Each person was trusted to their role and
stepped up
Advocacy to
Government
Public
understanding
Petition Social media
Advocacy to
Government
Keep the public
pressure on
Media of the
issue
Public events E-alerts E-newsletters Social media Magazine
Online
giving page
E-alerts Direct mail Appreciation
Acknowledgement
of more needed
Second tier issue e-
alert
October January
Advocacy Integration
Whole campaign is around advocating for a
special place (voice for nature)
Fundraising stressed the end result rather than
the means to get there
This worked perfectly with the advocacy
campaign
Fundraising used the media generation to gain
donations
Fundraising used the petition names for gaining
donations through e-marketing and direct mail
How we did it
Organisational buy-in
Early project team included fundraising,
marketing and communications, along with
conservation and advocacy
This Project Team had an SMT champion
Senior
Management
Supporter
Relations
Communications
Marketing
Conservation
Advocacy
How we did it
A strong message
An overseas mining company want to open-pit
mine an important part of NZs conservation
estate, without public consultation
The Government publically back-tracked on a pre-
election promise to provide public consultation
The biodiversity on Denniston Plateau is unique
NZers have shown to be very concerned about
what happens on our conservation estates
Single-minded
How we did it
Direct Mail
Wrote in-house
Stressed urgency
Signed by a non-staff member
Included a Christmas catalogue
Included a regional section
Stressed the loss of biodiversity rather than the
legal fees
Appeal letter page 1
Appeal letter page 2
Appeal letter page 3
Appeal letter page 4
Appeal outer envelope
Appeal letter page 5
Appeal letter page 6
How we did it
Facebook
Posts on the issue several times per week
Experts took part in the online discussion
Harnessing the passion into action
How we did it
Twitter
Regular tweets on the issue, including during live
discussions with key players
Many active followers were following our website
news feed
An additional touch-point for supporters
How we did it
Online giving page
Visually matched the direct mail piece and the
magazine
Stressed the christmas catalogue concept
8% uptake (usually 1%)
Of 1,252 unique visitors to the page, 1,232
donated
Most donations online were as a result of the
direct mail piece
Link
How we did it
E-alert
Sent one every 2 weeks (usually 1 per 6 weeks)
Single minded and reiterated the key messages
Visually appealing
How we did it
E-newsletter
With every standard e-newsletter we included an
article on the Denniston issue
Whenever we asked for donations towards the
campaign we received a spike in page hits
Careful to not always ask for money, but to build a
supporter group
How we did it
Website home page
Same images and key messages
Prominent
Pushed the campaign page towards making a
donation (unusual)
How we did it
YouTube
Multiple clips
Not all made by Forest & Bird
Links included on website, e-alerts and e-
newsletters
How we did it
Magazine
Exactly the same imagery and messages as the
direct mail piece and online donations page
High readership
Not all who receive the magazine also receive the
direct mail
Front cover
Magazine spread 1
Magazine spread 2
Magazine spread 3
How we did it
Media
During the key campaign phase there were up to 6
media articles in newspapers and on TV per day
Most was generated by Forest & Bird
Some was generated by the mining company
High level of letters to the editor written by our
supporters
How we did it
Timing
Extremely important
All staff were on the same page and stepped up
for this campaign
Very good coordination
The issue is still alive
Results how it worked for Forest &
Bird
Average of last
five appeals
Christmas
(Denniston) appeal
% change
Gross income $68,530 $131,633 +92%
Expenses (excluding staff time for all appeals) $20,791 $17,308 -17%
Net income $47,739 $114,325 +139%
Average gift $58.04 $89.73 +55%
Cost % 33% 13% -54%
ROI 3.4 7.6 +123%
% giving via online 1% 8% +700%
Response rate 5.91% 9.50% +61%
Mokihinui
One of New Zealands last remaining large
wild rivers was threatened with extinction
through a hydro dam
This would drown 330 hectares of primeval
forest and river bed, leaving several
threatened species homeless
Purchase a Share Certificate using the online
interactive system:
http://www.savethemokihinui.org.nz/
Mokihinui
The Share Certificate
Mokihinui
Results
All Share Certificates sold - $15,255 (Feb 2011
October 2011)
Additional money raised - $33,703
Mokihinui saved through pressure exerted by the
Advocacy and Conservation teams which
happened because of funding through our
supporters
Denniston & Mokihinui
Challenges and learnings
Integration works extremely well
Perfect case studies to convince reluctant staff
Must communicate well and trust people to do
their job very well
Planning helps
The perfect issue helps but integration can
happen at many different levels
Transparency with donations is imperative
Integrated campaigns - Future
We now have champions for integration
Our website is being updated to include
fundraising at every level
Our next two campaigns will have limited
integration as a build up to another large
camapign