The Cause:

Wildlife Conservation

Background:

Membership/supporter ranks for a well-known wildlife conservation organization had hovered at the 800,000 level for some time, despite persistent efforts to expand that base.

Existing Program:

Straight, non-premium acquisition and renewal membership offers.

Objective/Goal:

Member/Supporter base of 1,000,000 or more

The Challenge:

The challenge for the PEP Direct strategic planning team was to create a program that would expand the organization’s reach beyond the standard membership program thereby increasing the size of the overall supporter base. In short,

• Acquire new supporters/donors;
• Convert new supporters to full members.

PEP Direct’s Solution:

To appeal to a broader audience, the team created a premium-based donor program and implemented it to run parallel to the membership program. A high response premium-based approach was developed utilizing a price point that was lower than the full membership rate.

The Results:

In the first year, more than 176,000 donors and members were acquired and/or reinstated. An additional 79,000 were added in year two, thus allowing the organization to achieve and exceed its goal of one million supporters.

An effective donor to member conversion strategy, as well as a 40% new donor retention rate, resulted in a significant percentage of these new supporters migrating into full membership status.