Donor Acquisition: Northern Illinois Food Bank
Northern Illinois Food Bank Multichannel Integrated Acquisition Strategy
GOALS: Northern Illinois Food Bank is the source of nutritious food, innovative feeding programs, and hope for the 13-county area it services. The organization has a vision for no one to be hungry in Northern Illinois and partners with local food pantries and feeding programs, food manufacturers and retailers, companies, foundations and individuals towards fulfilling this vision.
The Food Bank was looking to grow awareness of food bank as a hunger solution, acquire donors and maximize donation in the Holiday period.
STRATEGIZE, EXECUTE & ANALYZE: The Donor Detectives team was focused on using an integrated multichannel approach to increase neighborhood penetration and increase awareness in Northern IL. Through the use of Outdoor Media (Billboards, Rail posters), Radio, Direct Mail and Online (Lightboxes, retargeting, Advertising, etc.), we were able to have a wide, yet targeted reach.
The learnings of this campaign were also leveraged to develop the annual multichannel media calendar.
IMPACT: The Holiday Campaign surpassed results of the previous year on response rate, average gift amount and ROI.
The positive impact was evident in all sources of income including an increase in:
- Overall online donations for a second consecutive year
- Direct mail acquisition
- White mail
All digital surpassed expectations. The great success of the Year End Lightbox made the lightbox a permanent fundraising tool for Northern IL Foodbank.
Based on the success of this and previous campaigns the integrated direct response campaigns are expanding to include similar campaigns outside of the Holiday season.
Bottom line: Adding new initiatives and tools to the tactics that already work will solidify the overall strategy and move the mission forward.