Fundraising for a global humanitarian charity

When working with a $100+ million global charity the challenge is to fuel ongoing growth and expansion

Project Details

Working for IFCJ was an incredible experience. It’s a $100 million charity that Forbes Magazine ranked one of fine top 50 charities In the U.S. They do Incredible work In Israel and the Former Soviet Union, providing food, clothing, shelter, and vocational training among other services.

In my role as the VP of Development, and the Executive Director of the Canadian division, I oversaw the entire marketing and communication efforts, including the Integration of all marketing and fundraising programs across all channels: direct mall. DRTV, telemarketing, radio, social media, website, public relations, and major and planned gifts.

  • The robust donor acquisition program fueled the growth of the database primarily through digital, direct mal, and DRTV channels, which fueled the number of active donors by 5%-7% every year, ensuring rapid growth In all donor segments.
  • The acquisition program provided an invaluable entry point for engaging people with a deeper engagement that would lead to major giving opportunities.
  • The constituent journey was well planned and executed for optimal long-term results. This led to high upgrade potential and lower than average attrition rates.

Outcomes:

One of the most impressive outcomes of our integrated marketing and fundraising approach was the high donor retention rate, the exceptionally high average gift, and the high average number of gifts per year per donor.  Given that the active donorbase was large (over 250,000 0-12 month donors) this was a remarkable achievement.

Additionally the donor stewardship program was literally the best in the business. Handwritten notes and personal phone calls were conducted to about 25% of the donors which directly led to a large percentage of donors upgrading their overall donations and a high percentage of single gift donors upgrading to monthly giving.

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Global Humanitarian Charity

The overall stewardship program and compelling methodology to segment and personalize donor communication led to 7%-10% revenue growth year over year.

It’s important to note that the revenue growth outpaced the growth of the number of donors indicating that we did a phenomenal job of:

1) retaining donors;

2) upgrading average gifts and increasing monthly commitments;

3) increasing the frequency (number) of gifts. All three combined are a winning combination!

Author: Eric Streiff

Eric is a senior-level marketing executive with expertise in all facets of for-profit and nonprofit management, strategic planning, marketing, fundraising, and leading cross-functional teams facing complex marketing, management and fundraising challenges.