Multichannel

Multiple Channels Can Strengthen Each Other Multiple Channels Can Strengthen Each Other March 21, 2006 By Abny Santicola, editor, FundRaising Success Advisor An e-mail campaign should be central to your multi-channel marketing efforts, says Sheeraz Haji, CEO of Berkeley, Calif.-based provider of online constituent-relationship-management services GetActive. While it does depend a bit on an organization's audience and constituents, Haji says there are very few demographics not online today. In multi-channel fundraising efforts, when considering which donors to solicit via e-mail, don't rule out the older demographic. While audiences aged 55 and older have the lowest e-mail penetration rates, their penetration rates are also

A Three-Step Conversion Strategy FS Advisor: March 21, 2006 By Abny Santicola, editor, FundRaising Success Advisor In a presentation at the DMANF 2006 Washington Nonprofit Conference last month, representatives from the American Red Cross and Habitat for Humanity shared the multi-channel fundraising strategies that helped them raise massive amounts of money to respond to 2005’s various natural disasters. For both organizations, the multi-channel effort began with contacting donors via the method with which they seemed most comfortable. According to Tim Daugherty, Habitat’s senior director of direct marketing, the organization’s “Integrated Agency Campaign” was comprised of three parts: Step One: Reach out to donors via

You would think that after a hundred years, a nonprofit could kick back a bit and maybe even rest on its laurels. After all, it’s been there, done that — right?

Not necessarily so, says Kurt Aschermann, senior vice president and chief marketing and development officer of Atlanta-based Boys and Girls Clubs of America, which was founded in Boston in 1906.

Transform an afternoon event into a successful multichannel campaign?

That sounds like a tall order. But as it heads into the third year of its Shamrocks for Kids campaign, Chicago-based Mercy Home for Boys and Girls seems to have pulled it off.

Development at the Lance Armstrong Foundation embodies seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong’s demon drive to empower cancer survivors.

Think about pushing the envelope to get potential donors’ attention, and the first thing that comes to mind isn’t usually the Smurfs.

Those beloved blue lumps are as safe as mother’s milk and just as much a part of the lives of little ones around the world.

But shock — and pulling folks out of their comfort zone — does get donors’ attention. And that’s why UNICEF Belgium used Smurfs to bolster its latest campaign, aimed at raising at least $100,000 for UNICEF projects in Burundi, a densely populated African nation.

The fundraising world is changing rapidly, and those who aren’t prepared will be left behind. Are you ready for these changes? Are you, in fact, leading your organization to embrace these changes? If you’re not, or if you don’t like change, perhaps now is the time to think about a career change.

Here, from my perspective and experience, are some of the more significant changes happening right now. Perhaps you can grab hold of these opportunities, change your fundraising, and soar.

The Children’s Aid Society, New York City, founded in 1853 to serve needy children and families through a broad network of services, including education, health, counseling, adoption, foster care, arts, recreation and emergency assistance. 

“If we’re going to eradicate substandard housing from the face of the earth, we need to be focused and organized.”

So says John Cerniglia from Habitat for Humanity International, which has been providing affordable housing to low-income families since 1976.

And he means it. His word choices sometimes make a face-to-face visit to a major donor sound more like a covert operation for Mission Impossible’s Ethan Hunt than a friendly chat between board member and prospect.

You might be thinking that the new year will just bring more of the usual fundraising grind, slogging forward step by step, scratching for every dollar.Well, I have good news: It doesn’t have to be that way.

In fact, the smartest fundraisers are paying attention to what promises to be next in breakthrough fundraising trends, strategies and tactics that will revolutionize the way funds are raised in the years ahead. So get on board if you want to ride the coming surge of fundraising effectiveness.