Greenpeace's bold fundraising strategies echo its aggressive, cutting-edge approach to protecting Mother Nature's greatest gifts.

By Abny Santicola

Though membership to Greenpeace USA was up to 1 million, the canvass operation was barely covering the costs to run the program. As part of
budget cuts, it was closed down in the late ’90s, eliminating Greenpeace’s valuable grassroots presence.

To make matters worse, in 2002, the organization faced problems with the conversion from an old database to a more sophisticated one. It wasn’t fully prepared for the conversion, and business processes weren’t properly understood or implemented, which affected the profitability of acquisition efforts and the ROI of others. Acquisition into monthly giving and DRTV were among the programs that suffered and were cut back, Sherrington says, adding that turnover in the fundraising team was high.