Boosting fundraiser participation with SMS
How the American Cancer Society built lasting relationships through SMS.
3 min read | Illustration by Sidnei Silva
The Climb to Conquer Cancer in Arizona is one of the American Cancer Society’s most significant events. It’s a 5.5-mile hike up Summit Road at South Mountain Park, Arizona, promoting awareness, honoring survivors, and remembering loved ones while raising funds for the American Cancer Society.
The American Cancer Society is a nationwide voluntary health organization dedicated to eliminating cancer. Established in 1913, the society is organized into six geographical regions of both medical and lay volunteers operating more than 250 Regional offices throughout the UnitedStates.
The Challenge
Two years of COVID restrictions damaged participation
After two years of COVID restrictions and event cancellations, the team at the Climb to Conquer Cancer in Arizona needed a way to reconnect with past climbers and get them excited, without being able to rely on any of their usual in-person kick-off events. They also needed to build trust by answering their questions efficiently and addressing health and safety concerns at scale.
Our experience with Banter was a game changer in levelling up our relationships with our Climb to Conquer Cancer participants.”
— Brooklyn Ramos, Strategic Director
The Solution
Building excitement and trust with SMS
American Cancer Society teamed up with Banter to launch an SMS program that enabled event leads to message climbers who had participated in previous events but had not yet registered for 2022. The SMS strategy included a communications calendar, a voice and tone guide, and event lead training on how to leverage text messages to build and deepen their relationship with supporters.
The Climb To Conquer Cancer team texted with thousands of lapsed participants, and almost 800 climbers for 2022 for 10 weeks leading up to and following the event with a mix of engagement messages, fundraising pushes, and more.
We were able to have more personal conversations, troubleshoot questions real-time, and crowdsource playlist songs and photos that we never would have been able to do through other channels.”
— Brooklyn Ramos, Strategic Director
The Results
Making numbers climb with SMS
We brought back hundreds of lapsed climbers The Climb team converted more than 5% of their lapsed audience after a two-year hiatus, including 22 team captains – who brought their old teams back with them. Our segment of reengaged participants (approximately 25% of total participants) had an 18% higher average fundraising total than other climbers. Those who were reengaged by SMS also included significantly fewer $0 raisers than those who had signed up via other channels.
SMS Coaching produced high fundraising participants
Thanks to our text messaging coaching program the audience that we connected to via SMS performed higher than those who were not. Our team was able to coach participants on fundraising tactics, provide them with crucial event information, and hype them up for the big day, all by text message. Participants had an open channel to event organizers to ask questions, make suggestions, and share their excitement.
Participants who received texts raised nearly double the climbers who didn’t receive texts. Of those participants who received texts, only 7% raised $0 – compared to 20% of participants who didn’t get texts.
People reconnected with user-generated content
On Climb day, participants were ecstatic to meet event organizers with whom they’d been texting for weeks, thanking them for their tips and help, and thrilled to be able to put faces to names.
The relationships that were established before Climb day paid off, and not just in terms of fundraising. After the event, participants were encouraged to share photos and their experiences – of which the team received hundreds. User-generated content is an authentic and cost-effective asset for marketing materials, adding to the text messaging’s ROI.
The best part was participants getting to meet the real people they had been texting with all season! They were so appreciative of all the help they received, loved the interactive nature of the experience, couldn’t wait to use the playlist we crowd-sourced. It was like reconnecting with old friends!”
— Brooklyn Ramos, Strategic Director