How Operation Smile Is Appealing to Spanish-Speaking Donors

The number of Spanish speakers in the United States hovers around 35 million, up significantly from 10 million in 1980, according to Pew research, making it an important demographic group for nonprofits to recruit.

Operation Smile, a Virginia nonprofit, which provides cleft palate surgeries for children, has spent the past six years crafting ways to do just that.

The organization’s market research showed that its international mission would appeal to a population that includes many immigrants, says Adrian Slagle, Operation Smile’s associate vice president for direct response marketing.

Outreach took the form of TV spots, direct mail, and digital ads. For each of those channels, the organization translated its materials to better target a Spanish-speaking audience.

For example, Operation Smile used mostly existing footage to construct a Spanish-language TV advertisement. The key difference was that it chose Puerto Rican actress Roselyn Sanchez to do the on-screen presenting, rather than simply dubbing or providing subtitles. It also subbed out some of the images so they would feature more children from Spanish-speaking countries. The ads largely ran on cable channels such as Discovery en Espanol and History en Espanol. This booming network of Spanish-language alternatives provided a cheaper option than advertising on better-known networks such as Univision and Telemundo.

Operation Smile anticipated making similar adjustments to its direct-mail package, but found its standard mailer — featuring a child from Vietnam — tested well among Spanish speakers. So the organization instead focused on translating the written materials so they were clear and culturally sensitive.

That took some serious thought.

“Someone from Mexico may have a different way of saying things from someone who is from Peru,” says Ms. Slagle. “That’s a really important note to make. Spanish isn’t just Spanish.”

When it came to digital efforts, Operation Smile concentrated on mobile advertising, where market research showed the heaviest volume of Spanish speakers. Moving forward, the organization wants to create radio advertisements and perhaps Spanish-language social-media pages, although the latter is still up for debate.

The organization’s commitment to Spanish-speaking donors, is rock solid. The demographic has helped Operation Smile grow its donor base during a time when many nonprofits struggled to break even.

“I really see this becoming the future for a lot of other organizations,” says Ms. Slagle.

Direct-Mail Acquisition Results (November 2013)

English Control — 0.88% response rate, $20.63 average gift

Spanish Test — 0.98% response rate, $22.45 average gift