A Look Back — and Forward

Church: On the process/execution side, the biggest change for me is the number of ways our message is communicated with our donors and potential donors. Social media has been a real game changer in not only how we talk about ourselves and the messaging we can manage, but also the ways other people talk about us — and the messaging we can’t control. Ten years ago, telemarketing firms had the most direct conversations with our donors. Today, we have direct digital conversations with them in multiple channels each day. Social media is not the way to raise a lot of money (at least not yet), but it definitely has changed the way we engage with our friends/followers/donors. We have to move so much faster now. I remember when we were overjoyed to get an “emergency mailing” or “urgent gram” written, approved, produced and in the mail within three to five days. Now we have to post messages or tweet within seconds of an event.