Food for Thought: An Interview With Emelie Irving, Executive Director, Southeast Texas Food Bank

Buoyed by a guarantee of success by Russ Reid, Irving jumped into the relationship, and everyone was pleasantly surprised — and continues to be. The results of the first campaign out of the gate were better than even she expected.

Irving says that even if an organization does manage to produce fundraising materials in-house, the keys to success are choosing lists, testing and measuring results — very specific and scientific skill sets that not a lot of organizations can afford to staff internally.