Rising Stars
According to Amanda Wasson, senior vice president of digital strategy at Stratmark, Justin’s plan exceeded all fundraising goals — increasing Komen’s expectations by more than 30 percent in 2012. “With the support of his Stratmark team, he rose to the challenge with optimism, adopting new technologies to engage donors on a personal level and reconnect them with a cause they care about,” she writes.
Justin also helped the National Shrine of St. Jude increase its revenue by 23.26 percent for December 2012 by performing a series of design and gift string tests to increase traffic, conversion rate and average gift amounts. And he used a public goal campaign, multiple e-mails with subject line testing and a site-wide pop-up design to exceed Liberty Institute’s end-of-year goal by 23 percent. We’re honoring Justin this year for this ability to jump right in and make the most of a difficult situation, for recognizing the importance of bringing donor attention back to the core reasons for support, and for developing highly successful, insight-driven strategies.
Jeff Mendola
Director of Mission Advancement
New Directions Youth & Family Services
Jeff Mendola is another fundraising newcomer who impressed us with his ability to jump right in and his immediate enthusiasm for fundraising. In May 2008, Jeff transitioned from a career in sales and marketing to the role of fundraiser at Mercy Flight of Western New York, one of only a few remaining not-for-profit providers of emergency air medical helicopter services. He quickly joined the WNY chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals and its professional development committee.
A year later, he was co-chair of the committee and was just re-elected to his second term on the AFP-WNY board of directors. In 2011, he presented a session at the AFP International Conference in Chicago on how to successfully utilize for-profit sales and marketing techniques in the nonprofit arena.
