The Pentera Blog
Claudine Donikian, Pentera President & CEO: 10 Years of Leadership. 10 Years of Research & Innovation.
As the first woman CEO in the planned giving marketing industry, Claudine Donikian is now beginning her eleventh year as president & CEO of Pentera, Inc., providing a decade of cutting-edge research projects and innovative marketing strategies - a decade of dynamic leadership.
After Claudine became president and CEO of Pentera in 2010, she set out to change the dearth of non-survey based research. She knew it would be extremely helpful to her clients - and to the industry as a whole - to instead have findings about actual donor behavior rather than findings from surveys about what people claim they did and purport they might do one day. Claudine has presented new research on donor behavior to multiple national CGP conferences and to the AFP International Conference - and she has presented more than 150 times at regional councils and conferences and is a frequent keynote speaker.
The first research study that Claudine commissioned and the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy conducted in the early 2010s was The Planned Giving Study: New Insights from Data on Planned Gifts. "Existing studies heavily rely on self-reported survey data or tax returns," wrote Dr. Una Osili, associate dean for research and international programs, in the executive summary of the study. "The complexity of various planned giving vehicles and the comparatively long time period required for planned gifts to be formalized make it difficult for researchers to systematically track and examine planned giving behavior. This study is one of the first efforts that seek to understand the changing landscape of planned giving and to explore donor life-cycle trajectories at higher education institutions."
This academic research study was presented by Claudine and Dr. Osili at two CGP national conferences. The study provides findings on demographics and actual giving patterns of planned giving donors of established universities over a 50-year period and establishes the impressive ROI of these programs and how legacy societies and stewardship are crucial to a program's success. Other planned giving programs can use the findings ultimately to justify keeping or increasing their planned giving budgets.
Other Cutting-Edge Research
Best Practices for Marketing and Stewardship During COVID-19
Claudine's most recent research project is a national survey of planned giving departments on how they have responded to the COVID-19 pandemic. From those findings she developed best practices on how to steward donors during the pandemic and how to market planned giving during the pandemic.
Two other studies she conducted were also presented at national CGP conferences:
Click or Skip? What Words Work Best with Donors in Planned Giving Marketing?
The first phase of this analysis of e-mail metrics was presented by Claudine at a joint presentation with Russell James at New York City's planned giving council, and the second phase was presented by Claudine at a recent CGP national conference. Disagreeing with other research, Claudine studied whether key planned giving terms (bequest, gift annuity, etc.) that were thought to be detrimental if used in marketing should in fact be avoided. Her belief was proved correct as the findings reached the surprising conclusion that these terms are actually associated with higher click-through rates and response rates in planned giving eNewsletters. Her findings are now quoted by other leading researchers as best practice to use when marketing to qualified planned giving donors.
Donor Stories in Marketing - To Use or Not To Use
This Pentera study, directed and presented by Claudine at a recent CGP national conference in New Orleans, studied how effective donor stories are in planned giving eNewsletters and what drives that effectiveness by analyzing click-through patterns and response rates of donors and donor prospects. The compelling findings show what types of donor stories increase response rates - and what types decrease response rates.
The study findings are available as whitepapers here.
Marketing Innovations
Pioneered Pentera PGCampaigns™
Claudine developed this campaign marketing strategy that has been extremely successful for clients, both in terms of increased donor engagement and significantly higher response, and has now become an industry standard.
Targeting Women Donors
Claudine has long had a special interest in women's issues and served on the advisory council for the prestigious IU Women's Philanthropy Institute for seven years, working on the board alongside several researchers. She has used her professional expertise to develop several marketing strategies directly targeting women donors, with many of them getting the highest response rates clients had ever achieved.
Using Engagement Metrics for Donor Cultivation Plans
In 2014 Claudine was the first to develop a system using client e-mail analytics and data to identify new prospects to cultivate. She also devised a cultivation strategy for clients to use to turn these leads into planned giving prospects. Clients have found the strategy easy to use and highly successful.
Conclusion
"Claudine is a marketing expert, a national leader in this profession," commented one client. "To be part of that kind of network as a client is very beneficial for us."
After a decade of helping nonprofits raise planned gifts, Claudine expresses gratitude for her groundbreaking career. "It's an honor and privilege to work in this field," she says, "and I'm so thankful to our clients for their trust and loyalty and for the many friendships that I've made along the way. How fortunate we all are to work in a profession that focuses solely on doing good for people and society. This is why we say our mission is to serve a higher purpose."
