Pareto Fundraising's work with Médecins Sans Frontières Australia
How Médecins Sans Frontières Australia changed the way supporters give
Background:
Supporters who give monthly, automated gifts from their bank accounts or credit cards are an integral part of the fundraising strategy of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Australia. MSF Australia calls those who help in this way 'Field Partners' and relies on the income they provide to fund long-term projects as well as emergency responses when they arise.
As such, it is imperative for Médecins Sans Frontières to ask its supporters to become Field Partners in order to secure a steady stream of income. In February 2007 Pareto Fundraising and MSF set themselves the ambitious challenge of converting 2.2 per cent of relevant cash supporters into Field Partners. This was going to be hard work, because MSF has approached supporters by mail and phone in previous years and achieved good results from those campaigns. In addition, MSF needed to safeguard $491,000 of gross cash income that these supporters were already giving.
Developing its Field Partners programme is only one part of Médecins Sans Frontières Australia's overall fundraising strategy and the work they do with Pareto Fundraising.
Campaign Material:
Médecins Sans Frontières Australia field partners programme sample pack
Why did it work?
A strong and clear proposition was employed. Supporters were asked to "change the way you give" a strategy designed to change the donor's behaviour rather than their attitude to the work they are making possible.- Detailed data analysis enabled Médecins Sans Frontières Australia's supporter base to be carefully segmented, ensuring that as many appropriate prospects as possible received a Field Partner ask without posing an unacceptable risk to the organisation's cash income.
- The main letter was highly personalised, using complex variable text that recognised each supporter and reflected their giving history.
- The use of compelling real-life case-studies illustrated why regular, reliable gifts are so important to Médecins Sans Frontières Australia's work.
What impact did this appeal have on Médecins Sans Frontières Australia's work?
The appeal exceeded its targets, achieving a regular giving response rate of 3.5 per cent and earning $666,114 in gross cash income.- A total of 915 donors agreed to become Field Partners, contributing an additional $281,814 to MSF Australia's gross yearly income. These are funds that will help support a multitude of long and short-term projects benefiting thousands of patients in need of urgent medical assistance worldwide.
Download pdf of this case study
Photographs on this page are courtesy of Médecins Sans Frontières
About Médecins Sans Frontières:
Médecins Sans Frontières was founded in 1971 by a small group of doctors and journalists who believed that all people should have access to emergency medical relief. Today, Médecins Sans Frontières is an international independent movement with offices in nineteen countries.
Médecins Sans Frontières was one of the first non-governmental organisations to provide urgently needed medical assistance and to publically bear witness to the plight of the people it helps.
In 1999, Médecins Sans Frontières was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of its pioneering humanitarian work.
Médecins Sans Frontières has 2,000 international staff as well as some 22,000 locally-recruited national staff, including doctors, nurses, epidemiologists, laboratory technicians, mental health professionals, logistics experts, water and sanitation engineers, administrators and a host of other professional and non-professional support staff, working in around sixty countries around the world.
