Full-Cycle Online Recruitment

Using Power Concepts in Online Recruitment

Case Study: A New Museum’s Founding Members

Avalon had the honor of building a successful digital fundraising program and online donor base for the Smithsonian’s newest addition – the National Museum of African American History & Culture.

We built a generous, online donor base centered on three key elements:
 
First, we knew many people would want to become distinguished Charter Members of such an important museum. Based on our prior message testing with other cultural organizations, we knew we needed to ask in the right way.

Our Facebook ads and remarketing strategies also generated a phenomenal response. We paired powerful images with the simple invitation to “Make History with Us.”

The response from our digital ads and remarketing strategies were so strong, our client recovered their full investment in building this online donor base in just 6 months. This is much faster than break-even for other investments, like door-to-door canvassing (3-4 years) or acquisition mailings (at least 18-24 months).

Additionally, to prevent the attrition of these new online donors, Avalon also designed an effective multichannel Membership Month Campaign. This annual campaign created a new source of net income. And it reinforced the importance of members’ ongoing support. This campaign is one of the strongest online fundraisers for the museum every year. And it is a significant source of new joins, whose average gifts exceed $100 on a consistent basis.