Healthy Fundraising

Following that was a quote from Abramson and a hyperlink to "Click here to make a 2011 Donation," and it closed, "Help us stay committed to families for another 25 years!"

Any time a donor made a gift, HealthConnect One also sent a thank-you note within a week. It was a personal note from Ogrin that she signed and included a gift receipt for tax purposes. Then through January and February, Abramson wrote personal thank-you letters to donors who donated over a certain amount, as well as donors she has personal relationships with. Those thank-yous not only thanked donors, but invited them for phone calls or face-to-face meetings as well.

As part of the One Birth campaign, HealthConnect One was also featured in a Dec. 13 story in DailyWorth, a website community of women who talk money, titled "Give Where the Women Are." It highlighted HealthConnect One along with two other nonprofits: the Global Fund for Women and the White House Project.

HealthConnect One also updated Facebook with mentions any time an e-mail was deployed, and encouraged board members and supporters to post when they made donations on Facebook.

Campaign strategy 
and deployment

The campaign ran from Thanksgiving through December, with the personal thank-you phase in January and February. The direct-mail pieces, about 2,000 total, were sent before Dec. 1. Then the e-mail campaign launched the first week of December. The second was deployed in the middle of the month, the third right before Christmas and the last one right before New Years. The e-mails went to about 2,000 HealthConnect One e-mail subscribers.

At the same time, the organization was in the midst of applying for the Kellogg grant and funding through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid.

"We had a lot of activity going on in December and January, so we had to coordinate when our e-mails went out so that our donors didn't feel bombarded by announcement after announcement," Ogrin says.