Integrated Campaign Equals Fundraising Results
	Posted by Mike Johnston at May 02, 2012 07:03 AM CDT

The value of case studies is heighted in the charitable sector, where budgets are limited. That’s why the IMAB has identified one pillar of integrated marketing as “The Practice” -- helping organizations look at how other organizations are putting integrated marketing into practice to help better prepare themselves for their own integrated marketing efforts. Here’s one example of integrated marketing in the real world:

The Organization 

Established in 1988, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society  (Sea Shepherd) exists to end the destruction of habitat and slaughter of wildlife in the world’s oceans. Sea Shepherd’s heroic direct action teams investigate, document, and interfere with the slaughter of whales and other marine life.  

Harvey McKinnon Associates (HMA) worked with Sea Shepherd to develop their donor direct mail program, and recruited hjc to help build a personal fundraising campaign around the Sea Shepherd’s Be a Whale Warrior campaign. The campaign builds on the popularity of the "Whale Wars" reality TV show (which follows Sea Shepherd ships as they patrol the seas protecting whales from hunters).  

The Challenge

Encourage donors to do their own fundraising for the Be a Whale Warrior campaign, using Sea Shepherd’s existing online platform for personal fundraising pages.

The Solution

Together the HMA/hjc team came up with the “Be a Whale Warrior” concept, and pulled together an integrated campaign that included multiple communication channels. We set up and configured Sea Shepherd’s online platform to support the multi-channel approach, and then created a schedule and framework for multiple communications with donors. We coordinated thank-you and “encouragement” calls with a leading telemarketing provider, and set up and sent a series of donor emails. 

The Results

The results of this integrated campaign speak for themselves: Sea Shepherd raised $30,000 in net income, with over 3,000 personal fundraising pages created by supporters. Many donations were from first-time donors, a great step in increasing their donor file.