Program Audit

John Mini Consulting begins any engagement by reviewing an organization's current program. The more
information - such as sample packages and statistical results - the better equipped we are to improve
on existing programs and determine how the organization can better utilize existing resources. Working
with our clients, we have been able to improve existing donor acquisition campaigns, build strong
reinstatement and conversion programs, enhance existing donor development programs, and in many
cases, develop new direct response programs, including monthly giving programs or on-line fund-raising
and activist campaigns.




Campaign Planning

John Mini Consulting works with our client organizations to determine how we can best improve their
direct response programs. We create campaigns targeted to the various segments of the existing donor
file to help each group of donors reach their giving potential. For example, we know that a first-time
$100 donor should be treated differently than an existing donor, who contributes $20 three or four times
each year.




List Planning

The most important component of a direct mail prospecting program is choosing the right lists to mail. John
Mini Consulting works to identify all possible warm prospects - inquiry names, website visitors, activists,
subscribers and buyers, lapsed donors and IMO/IHO donors - that could effectively be recaptured in
acquisition campaigns.

Often times, the warm prospects generated internally are not adequate in quantity to meet the acquisition
needs of the organization. Targeted lists can also be procured through the established list market. John Mini
Consulting works with several list brokers to assist our list planning efforts. Over the last several years,
we also pioneered the use of modeling large compiled files to target new sources of potential donors.





Copywriting Planning

John Mini Consulting translates the message of our client organizations into a voice that will produce a
response - whether a call to join, a call to contribute, and/or a call to take action. Our ability to create an
impact and motivate the recipient based on the message comes from deep experience within nonprofit
organizations and effective marketing techniques. With each response, we - in turn - seek to strengthen
the donor's relationship to the organization.

Fund raisers write; fund raisers design. A decade ago, John Mini Consulting began to provide in-house
design services. We believe that the writer of the package can effectively use existing computer graphics
software to enhance the product without sending to professional designers who excel at collateral materials
such as annual reports, newsletters, brochures, etc. However, we do use outside designers - especially
for specific clients or projects.





Reporting

JMC analytical and reporting tools are developed to focus on each client partner's specific performance
objectives. Many key measurements are standard direct response measurement devices.

When reviewing the results of an acquisition program, many organizations focus on the response rates.
We review primarily the "cost per donor acquired," but also take note of the "average gift." For
membership organizations, we may want to analyze not only the "cost per donor" but the "cost per
member" as well. For example, before we began working with one membership organization, they developed
a successful prospect package, which generated an average gift of $11. However, their membership dues
were $15 and they never mailed donors below $10. We developed systems to analyze the cost to acquire
a $15 member and the cost to acquire a $10 contributor by list, which drastically altered how they
acquired donors with this package.