Schultz & Williams : Case Studies

AFSC: Invigorating a Direct Mail Strategy

With the help of Schultz & Williams, a Quaker organization made its voice heard, resulting in a surge of funds to support its important work.

The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) is made up of Quakers and non-Quakers dedicated to social justice, peace and humanitarian service. Founded in 1917 to give conscientious objectors an opportunity to aid civilian victims during World War I, AFSC was often in the spotlight during much of the 20th century - members were behind courageous, well-publicized efforts to aid refugees, heal race relations, and improve labor conditions. By the 1960s, AFSC enjoyed a loyal, strong community of donors eager to help fund its programs.

However, with the awakening of America's social consciousness in the '70s came the birth of many more nonprofits dedicated to some of the same causes as AFSC. By the 1990s, the presence of this "competition" for charitable giving had weakened AFSC's fundraising results.

That's when AFSC turned to Schultz & Williams.

"We needed a partner to help reinvigorate our current donor base, and help us acquire donors in new markets," explained John Treat, Director of Strategic Marketing. "We felt Schultz & Williams had the ability to truly understand AFSC's history and spirit, and would help us change our development efforts in a way that was in keeping with our culture."

Schultz & Williams began its work by conducting a full audit of AFSC's current and past fundraising programs. The audit was both qualitative and quantitative and aimed to benchmark past results, document donor giving patterns and provide specific reasons why results were soft, such as upgrade/downgrade patterns, frequency of giving, donor retention and long-term value.

After the audit was complete, Schultz & Williams developed a strategic and creative plan to create one voice for the direct marketing program, strengthen the message, respond more effectively to the current social and political environment and be more aggressive in asking for support.

	Boys from the Kakoor School pose on the jungle gym for a picture. Photo: T. William Moore

Since March 2001, S&W and AFSC have worked vigorously to implement this plan with outstanding results. The donor base has realized significant increases in income production due to a more aggressive upgrade strategy, adding renewal mailings and better targeting of its donors to appeal topics. S&W and AFSC have developed several new acquisition packages that are realizing double the results of previous campaigns and significantly reducing the cost to acquire a new donor.

Evidence of the strength of the new strategy was seen in the aftermath of September 11, 2001. S&W and AFSC produced an Actiongram asking for immediate donations to help all the victims of the tragedy - both here in the United States and in Afghanistan. The appeal mailed within 72 hours and generated over $1 million in additional income.

New strategies are continuing to evolve such as integrating the mail and telemarketing more closely, improving the monthly giving program, and developing donor giving circles.

"Schultz & Williams took the time to get to know us and our situation and to provide a well-considered plan of action. Once the plan was delivered, they worked with us to ensure it would be successfully implemented," said John Treat. "Their careful approach has essentially turned around AFSC's direct mail program."

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