Multichannel

The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, established in 1983 to promote understanding between members of two major, often at-odds religions and build broad 
support for Israel, was one of the first nonprofit organizations to devote a full-time position to social media.

In the past 15 years, the number of public charities has increased from 600,000 to nearly 1 million. This increased competition, coupled with changing demographics, has resulted in declining acquisition rates, rising acquisition costs and declining retention rates.

In order to truly maximize fundraising dollars, organizations must use a multichannel approach, combining online and offline communications for maximum engagement. During the inaugural FundRaising Success Virtual Conference & Expo held on May 20 (and available on-demand until Aug. 24), three fundraising professionals — Jenny Kellum Lee, creative director of Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation; Kate Millea, interactive consultant at Convio; and Jessica Fraser Sotelo, manager of online marketing at World Wildlife Fund — tackled the multichannel integration process in the session “Get It Together!”

NEW YORK, JUNE 2, 2010  – The international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and the VII Photo agency today launched “Starved for Attention,” a global multimedia campaign presenting a unique and new perspective of childhood malnutrition, a preventable and treatable condition that nonetheless claims the lives of millions of children each year.  

The collaboration challenges established notions of malnutrition through a seven-part mini-documentary series; clichéd images are substituted with those of parents and health workers struggling to meet the nutritional needs of young, growing children.  Starved for Attention highlights how increased childhood sickness and early death can be prevented with effective nutritional interventions. The campaign launch coincides with the onset of a particularly harsh “hunger gap” season in Africa’s Sahel region, the period when staple food crops run out before the next harvest and malnutrition typically increases. 

One thousand, six hundred and twenty-five. That's the number I blurted out months ago, off the top of my head, when folks on the ad side of things here at FundRaising Success asked me how many people I thought would sign up for our first-ever daylong virtual conference and trade show.

Tom Harrison: Many people talk about integrated marketing or multichannel 
marketing, but when you dig deeper you find out they mean direct mail and outbound telemarketing.

Kyla Shawyer: There was a time when Operation Smile was using very few channels to communicate with our donors. We had to acknowledge that people wanted diversity and demanded choices. The more ways we communicated with them, the more likely they were to receive our message and respond.

Some of the best online fundraising campaigns have a strong offline component. Often when people "go digital," they believe they need to direct all of their efforts to the online world. We find this is not always the best way to maximize fundraising revenues.

Traditionally, the highest-value donors in terms of dollars lie within the 65-and-older range. But, with more ways than ever to reach prospects, fundraisers increasingly are looking to engage a younger crowd. In a presentation titled "Yeah, Yup, Right On — Getting the Younger Donor to Say 'Yes' to Your Nonprofit" at the 47th Association of Fundraising Professionals International Conference on Fundraising going in Baltimore right now discussed ways to do just that.

Technology, properly applied, can be a great enabler. But, having glimpsed the possibilities, the challenges of achieving it can be frustrating to fundraisers, who want to provide their supporters with a smarter online experience.

“Do more with less.” You hear it from your boss, or maybe even your board in these tough times. Exasperated, you look back at your last six months: You’ve cut costs, backed off your most expensive programs, and maybe even made some painful staff decisions. So, now what?