Case Study: Driving Growth in the Active Cash File

Campaign reports - group of people looking at random data charts

St John of God Foundation (SJOG) had been experiencing a decline in donor volumes and engagement which was leading to a drop in overall fundraising income, a challenge faced by many charitable organisations. To address this issue, SJOG Foundation partnered with Sequoia to conduct an Insight Audit aimed at evaluating supporter engagement, fundraising performance, and long-term sustainability.

The audit, conducted using data from Salesforce, revealed a programme heavily reliant on long term regular givers with little recent acquisition. This was compounded by a shrinking active cash file and declining lifetime value (LTV) among supporters due to lower engagement from recent recruits. Alongside working on reinvigorating the regular giving programme, Sequoia collaborated with the internal team to analyse historical trends, identify areas for improvement, and implement targeted strategies to re-engage supporters and rebuild the cash file.

Together, we worked on refining direct mail strategies, reactivating lapsed donors, and increasing overall campaign effectiveness. This strategic shift was focused on revitalising the active cash file to drive sustainable fundraising growth.

Challenges

- Declining engagement: Overall engagement was rated low, primarily due to a lack of diversity and low frequency of supporter interactions.
- Falling LTV: Five-year value of supporters had dropped over 50% since the peak in 2016
- Retention issues: The organisation faced challenges in maintaining and reactivating past supporters, impacting long-term financial stability.
- Low mailing volumes: Smaller and smaller mailing files meant the cash programme was becoming difficult to maintain

Results and Impact

The strategic interventions yielded significant improvements in fundraising performance:

- 400% increase in annual response (volume & value) compared to two years ago: Increased communications and improved response rates drove large increases in income
- Improved campaign efficiency: Higher engagement from fewer mailings optimised resource allocation, increasing overall return on investment.
- Cash file growth restored: The combination of reactivations and conversions reversed previous declines, ensuring a sustainable influx of active cash donors.

Strategic Approach

A detailed analysis of the supporter base revealed large pockets of supporters who had been neglected and provided opportunities for increase engagement. Response rates and ROIs had increased but through reducing volumes meaning many supporters were being neglected and not receiving any communications. As a result of these learnings, SJOG Foundation implemented a data-driven, targeted approach to maximise response rates and improve retention within the active cash file. Key initiatives included:

- Optimised direct mail strategy:
  - More refined targeting, reducing the number of mailings while increasing personalisation and relevance.
  - Focused segmentation to prioritise high-value and high-propensity donors.
- Reactivation and conversion initiatives:
  - Dedicated efforts to re-engage lapsed donors led to 74 reactivations.
  - Enhanced conversion strategies contributed to 269 new conversions, signalling positive momentum in growing the cash file.
- Refined prompting strategy
  - Stratified prompts based on previous giving meaning supporters encouraged to give at appropriate levels
  - Lower prompts for lapsed supporters to encourage reactivation and conversion

The success of this initiative underscores the importance of:

- Targeted donor engagement strategies – Tailoring communications to the right audience can maximise response rates and efficiency.
- Strategic reactivation efforts – A dedicated focus on past donors can play a crucial role in revitalising fundraising efforts.
- Leveraging seasonal opportunities – Aligning campaigns with high-engagement periods, like Christmas, can significantly boost donor participation.

Conclusion

By leveraging Sequoia’s expertise in data analytics and campaign optimisation, SJOG Foundation was able to move away from broad, sometimes inefficient outreach efforts and toward a more sustainable, growth-oriented approach. With this new strategy in place, the organisation now has a strong foundation to build upon, ensuring that donor engagement continues to strengthen in the years to come. Moving forward, SJOG Foundation and Sequoia remain committed to refining segmentation strategies, expanding digital and multi-channel engagement, and continuously tracking key performance indicators. The remarkable success of this initiative serves as a testament to the power of data-driven decision-making in modern fundraising and highlights the potential for continued growth through strategic collaboration.

“It’s been a pleasure to work with Sequoia over the past 18 months, and the results really are speaking for themselves. From initial insight audit work, through delivering informed campaign selection ideas, and on to detailed and useful reporting and analysis; they really do offer a holistic approach to managing data effectively.” Kate Mulchrone, Fundraising Manager