Pancreatic Cancer UK is striving to transform the future for everyone affected by pancreatic cancer. Through the generous support of their donors, they fund research breakthroughs, campaign for changes in treatment and care, and provide support to those affected by pancreatic cancer.

In 2021, Pancreatic Cancer UK collaborated with Dataro to see if our AI donor predictions could enhance their direct mail appeal performance and increase revenue while reducing costs and improving fundraising ROI.

In their first end-of-year (EOY) appeal (2022) using Dataro to make their data selections, the charity achieved a 111% increase in net appeal revenue and a 142% increase in response rates, despite sending mailings to 65% fewer donors. This resulted in a direct mail cost saving of £3,899 and a campaign ROI of 268%.

Key results

Using AI to identify the best donors for their direct mail appeal, Pancreatic Cancer UK achieved:

• An increase in gross return despite sending mailings to 65% fewer donors

• 111% increase in appeal net revenue

• 142% increase in response rate (10.2% response rate)

• £3.9k saved in direct mail costs

• 268% ROI
  
  

How we did it

Pancreatic Cancer UK has been working with Dataro since 2021 to enhance their appeal selection process and achieve better fundraising returns year after year.

In this instance, Dataro’s Direct Mail propensity model was integrated with Pancreatic Cancer’s CRM – Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT.

Utilising machine learning, Dataro’s model predicted how likely each active cash donor would be to donate to an appeal if prompted. Dataro’s donor propensities were updated weekly in the charity’s CRM. 

In addition to identifying which donors are likely to give (and which should be rested), Dataro’s machine learning model also provides suggestions for the ideal mail file size to optimise campaign ROI.

The fundraising team used Dataro’s rankings, scores, and campaign size suggestions to make their direct mail appeal data selections.

Analysing the results

Before using Dataro’s AI donor propensities, Pancreatic Cancer UK relied on segmentation methods such as RFM for their appeal targeting, which often led to missed donations from donors and wasted outreach to supporters who were not likely to give.

Following a period of testing in 2021, the charity used Dataro’s donor selections and campaign size recommendations in their 2022 EOY appeal to target a substantially smaller yet more engaged audience.

Despite sending 65% fewer letters than the previous year’s campaign, they increased response rates by 142%, rising from 4.2% to 10.2%, and increased net appeal revenue by 111%.

By mailing a smaller segment of donors, the charity saved £3,899 in direct mail costs, without risking income. The increase in gross revenue and reduction in costs helped Pancreatic Cancer UK achieve an impressive campaign ROI of 268%.

Confident in their results with Dataro, Pancreatic Cancer UK prepared their data selections for the 2023 EOY appeal using Dataro’s donor predictions.

While Dataro’s donor predictions proved accurate again, the charity included additional donors beyond those recommended by Dataro’s “recommended campaign size”. This resulted in a lower campaign response rate of 3% as donors with lower likelihoods of giving were included. Combined with escalating mail costs, the 2023 EOY campaign achieved a lower campaign ROI of 72.38%. This outcome validated the reliability and effectiveness of Dataro’s predictions and campaign size recommendations.

The 2023 EOY Appeal results have given the charity confidence to rely solely on Dataro’s AI predictions and suggestions for their appeal targeting going forward.