What Integrated Marketing Means to Me -- Greg Fox
	Posted by at Feb 08, 2012 07:01 AM CST

As the use of digital marketing continues to evolve and expand within the nonprofit industry, fundraising executives are demanding more integration within their marketing, communication and fundraising solutions. More often than not, the integration of digital is very much tactical in execution, primarily in the form of “media” (outbound communication) and/or a “channel” of response.

The key point of distinction is that nonprofits that wish to implement truly integrated fundraising strategies must think first of their constituent rather than the communication tactic itself. In short, they need to put the donor in the center of their universe and build an integrated communications solution to maximize performance of that donor.  

The problem, however, is that launching an initiative to fully integrate marketing and fundraising across the entire enterprise is a daunting task for most, if not all, organizations (and commercial enterprises, for that matter). And as study after study has pointed out, organizations lack the infrastructure and technology necessary to implement a true integrated fundraising solution. But remember… 

To DO integrated fundraising means you must first BE integrated. 

Virtually every nonprofit organization is divided into departments and/or business groups that have distinct and often-fluctuating focus, objectives, and goals. They most often are developed in a silo fashion and are isolated from the other groups, and this includes among others, marketing, communications, online, special events by event, major gifts, direct mail, and planned giving. They each have unique budgets and most assuredly separate performance metrics –- often times in direct conflict with other departments. 

As more and more organizations are discovering, it is easy to talk about being integrated, but far more difficult be integrated. And the level of difficulty increases substantially when you toss the constituent into the mix; more specifically the ownership of the individual constituent/donor throughout the entire enterprise. That’s because nonprofit organizations are not well-equipped to be constituent friendly, and therefore are not designed to make business decisions at the individual level. 

In the traditional model, business decisions are made at the program, event, activity and/or campaign level. Budgets are developed at this level, and it’s the basis for staff evaluation and compensation. However, in programs that are truly integrated, budgets and investment strategies are created at the individual constituent level.

Ultimately, to engage in integrated fundraising nonprofits must become more focused on constituent-based investments and value-based engagements. Nonprofits must evolve from trying to maximize performance of a series of individual campaigns or special event, to one that considers the constituent’s performance across a wide array of campaigns and interactions and how each communication and engagement influences the behavior of a constituent over time.

To practice integrated fundraising requires integration across the entire enterprise and a commitment to become more constituent-centric. The industry has a long way to go before integrated fundraising is commonly practiced, but one day it will.  

The sooner nonprofit organizations can become totally integrated around the constituent, the sooner they can reap the awards of integrated fundraising.