Multichannel

For our August 2007 cover story, "An Exercise in Transformation," we spoke with Atul Tandon, the innovative fundraising powerhouse who at the time was the senior vice president of donor engagement at World Vision U.S., about that organization's effort to shift the focus of its development strategies from silos to support — and getting everyone working together to engage donors deeply in the work of saving the world's children.

Human Rights Campaign’s marriage equality logo phenomenon, charity: water’s blockbuster September campaign, even Invisible Children’s possibly flawed but undoubtedly huge Stop Kony 2012 campaign … They’re the nonprofit world’s version of celebrities, the organizations who have managed to have a multichannel campaign go “viral.”

How can you build your own powerful foundation for multichannel fundraising success? Start by scanning this checklist for your core supporters, and taking some of the small but absolutely doable steps that can take you to the next level of multichannel stardom.

Ask yourself these eight questions. Does my audience …

Integrated data systems are critical to enabling constituent-centric communications across channels, which, in turn, is key to your relationship with donors and fundraising results.

Getting the attention of your supporters and engaging them in your campaigns on one platform is hard enough. But the key to campaign success comes in engaging people across platforms. In "Social Change Anytime Everywhere: How to Implement Online Multichannel Strategies to Spark Advocacy, Raise Money, and Engage Your Community," Allyson Kapin and Amy Sample Ward guide nonprofit staffers through developing and powerful integrated approaches to asking for money, time or support.

To start, Amy and Allyson recommend you take these four simple steps to ensure your next multichannel campaign generates the most attention (and action) possible.

These days, renewing donors takes a fully integrated, multichannel effort. In this excerpt, fundraising guru Roger Craver shared "5 Ways to Get the Most From Your Multichannel Fundraising Renewal Efforts."

Integrated, multichannel fundraising became the norm during the first decade of the 2000s. In our January 2007 issue, Sheeraz Haji, then CEO of GetActive Software, took a look at successful multichannel fundraising campaigns executed in 2006 and offered 10 tips for a successful integrated campaign in the feature, "They're Doing What?"

On March 20, two of our Engage presenters — Karin Kirchoff, vice president of Mindset Direct, and Steve Kehrli, foundation development director at the PETA Foundation — joined TrueGivers' Charlie Cadigan and DonorVoice's Angie Moore for a lively discussion on direct mail's part in a multichannel fundraising strategy. Until June 20, you can still catch the archived version of this FREE webinar simply by registering.

At Fund Raising Day in New York 2010, fundraising guru Roger Craver presented a session called "Agitate Your Direct Response Program." Craver, founder of DonorTrends, editor of The Agitator and member of the FS Editorial Advisory Board, shared his insights on "The State of Direct Marketing and Integrated Fundraising" with FS.

In June 2010, Russ Reid CEO Tom Harrison and Operation Smile's Kyla Shawyer, both of whom will be presenting Operation Smile's case study session at Engage, discussed how "Innovation + Integration = Impact."

The primary advice about social media is to take your time and do it right. You are building relationships, and that is not going to happen overnight. Be consistent, be true to your mission and stay active on these channels. It works.