Social Media Is Part of IFCJ's Multichannel Integration Strategy

By Margaret Battistelli Gardner

FundRaising Success: Please explain your vision for the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, in regard to fundraising and awareness building.

Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein: The IFCJ fundraising goal is to raise not just awareness, but commitment from Christians and Jews to reach out toward one another on behalf of their shared goals and values. Awareness is but the beginning, leading, hopefully, to concern, which leads to commitment, which itself leads to expression of commitment through a variety of means, including giving contributions.

In addition to the purpose of raising funds to strengthen the bonds between Christians and Jews, we raise funds to help the people of Israel and Jews in need in various parts of the world. We have been able to contribute hundreds of millions of dollars, helping hundreds of thousands of people — Jews, Muslims, Christians and others — in dozens of countries around the world. Our financial goal each year is to do better than the year before so that we can, very simply, help more people in need, especially these days when other organizations are cutting back in their help and there are none to fill the void.

I don’t look at the budget and say, “Let’s raise $100 million this year.” I look at the budget and say every day, “What can we do more or less or differently to do the best job we can?” And whatever income God blesses us with, I am happy.

FS: Tell us about your commitment to embracing new strategies/mediums.

YE: One of the keys to our fundraising strategy — in addition to my strong belief that God will bless efforts that are done with right spirit and pursuit of excellence — is building relationships with donors and servicing them just as they provide help to us and our cause. With all the marketing and fundraising techniques that we have employed over the years, it is ultimately this point — of genuinely caring for and relating to our donors — that I believe accounts for our success and growth.

We set the bar very high at the Fellowship, and I have pursued and expect excellence for myself and everyone around me. Yes, I have been open to all sorts of marketing techniques and newfangled processes of raising funds. But, ultimately, I believe it comes down to the maxim, “People give to people — not to causes.”

Anyone who believes that purely technical, systematic exploitation of data and techniques will “bring in the funds,” I believe is totally mistaken.

FS: How do you inspire your staff to inspire donors/supporters?

YE: In our case, I think it’s the reverse. Our donors are so inspired that they inspire the staff. Our donors’ sacrificial giving — tithing their meager Social Security income and other such gestures going far beyond generous to the level of sacrifices — inspires us all to do more.

Of course, at monthly staff meetings I try to remind the staff of the critical, holy role they play on every level in helping more people in need. I have them take ownership and pride, not in whether our income is up 5 percent or 4 percent, but in their realizing every moment that their good work will lead to more people who are in desperate need being helped.

"Social media is a unique opportunity for them to communicate with us and see what we're doing," she says, adding that having a presence on social-media sites such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube alleviates the organization's inherent challenge of having much of its work take place outside of the U.S. and far from the eyes of donors and other supporters.

"It's not like we're Goodwill and people can walk down the street and say, 'Oh, I give clothes here,'" she explains.

With social media, she says, IFCJ can bring evidence of its work abroad to its U.S.-based donors more immediately than with direct mail and other media.

There's a lot more to the social-media story at IFCJ, and you can read about it in a Web-exclusive sidebar. But social media is still a small — albeit growing — piece of the equation.

A host of other channels

"It's just another doorway; it gives [donors and supporters] another option," Johns says. "It's not the medium; it's the message. If you have a good message, people are out there and they want to hear it. Social media is just another part of having an integrated fundraising and marketing campaign."

Woodward echoes Johns' thoughts, saying that IFCJ has made a concerted effort for a number of years to use a multichannel approach. To reach out to a broad audience, the organization uses a mix of DRTV, direct mail, online, telemarketing and most recently, of course, social media "to engage, educate and promote a greater understanding between Jews and Christians, while building broad support for Israel."

"For years as fundraisers we have heard that the channel a person comes in on is most likely their preferred channel and you won't see much crossover," Woodward says. "Instead of taking that statement at face value, IFCJ created a strategy several years ago that included contacting donors through a variety of DR  mediums — for donor engagement and increased gifts. It has paid off as we continue to see file growth in both donors and gifts.

« Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 All Next »

0 Comments

View Comments

Margaret Battistelli Gardner Author's page

Divine Integration