Q&A: Integrated Marketing with Ronald Forbes, Former CEO of JDRF Canada
	Posted by Mike Johnston at May 31, 2012 07:04 AM CDT

Ronald Forbes is the former President & CEO of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Canada. His leadership at JDRF resulted in a fourfold increase in revenues, higher profile in the industry and recognition by the Federal Government at the highest levels. After working at JDRF for 8 years, Ron took retirement in 2006. He keeps busy with community service, charitable works and part time consulting, and is currently busy exploring opportunities in the Social Impact Investment scene.

Recently, Mike Johnston from hjc sat down with Ron to learn more about JDRF Canada's integrated approach to marketing and fundraising. This Q&A first appeared in hjc's eNews newsletter.

MIKE: Ron, I remember working with you at Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation of Canada back in 2001 when you were developing strategies for increasing your fundraising and marketing initiatives. Your vision was to achieve this using an integrated approach. You’ve told me that this evolved over a few years and in 2004 you introduced the concept of Integrated Fundraising at JDRF. Why and how did that happen?

RON: As CEO for JDRF Canada, I recognized the need to accelerate the fundraising to keep pace with the greater demands for research dollars to bring the organization closer to achieving its mission. We needed a paradigm shift away from the $12 million plus that was being raised annually and this was not possible using traditional methods.

MIKE: And you thought that a more integrated approach would raise more money, motivate more people to support you?

RON: Yes, that was my vision and I felt that it was possible with proper planning and execution. I knew that we had to overcome a more traditional culture to fundraising and marketing. We had what I like to call a "product focused" culture built around marketing products. For example, there was a team built around a walk (a product) while there was another team built around galas (a product), etc. And each of these products was led by someone who had their own, separate database and “customers” on excel spreadsheets. Each geographic region had a separate database as well.

MIKE: I like that term, "a product focused culture." I can sure relate to that.

RON: If we were going to make a breakthrough in fundraising and marketing, then we needed to break down this product silo reality and integrate. And by integration I mean a very simple definition: a complete view of a constituent’s interaction with us. And to help us get that holistic view, we needed a few things to fall in place.

On a tactical level, we needed the technology necessary to capture all of the interactions of an individual (e.g., someone who might walk, attend an event, volunteer or make a major gift) in one central database and then have easy access to that information to better tailor a more profitable relationship for both us and the supporter.

MIKE: Today, we call that a complete CRM approach.

RON: Back then I simply called it our integrated approach.

MIKE: How else did you frame integration?

RON: Big picture I drew three bubbles to explain the concept of integration to staff: individuals, businesses, and community. I explained how an individual was interconnected and fused in to these three categories so separating them in to silos would not work efficiently and that integration was the answer. Technology was one of the tools for achieving this and the first step was an integrated donor management system or database.

MIKE: And what about the web in those early days?

RON: I remember hjc helping us getting a better online presence and I saw online as another key channel that would connect our "products" to one another and to our customers even then.

MIKE: So, you have a high level definition of integration and you saw technology as a key to help the customer relationship management experience. But how did you make it happen?

RON: We needed to have a goal to pursue and I wanted to make a significant impact on the funds raised. I committed to raise $100 million over 5 years. That was a roughly 100% increase in income. Some people were a bit skeptical but I thought that if we made an integrated plan, and stuck with it, we’d see the difference and hit our goal.

MIKE: Did you make your goal?

RON: JDRF exceeded the goal of $100 million over 5 years. Close to a 100% increase. I believe integration made the true difference. But it was also about the people behind the work. First, we made a strategic plan, and then detailed a tactical integrated plan showing the tactics to be adopted each of the 5 years. It took about 5 months to create and tweak it. We then created the oversight to ensure that it worked. We had specific Head office and Regional staff who were tasked to monitor the different areas of the integrated plan. You stick with a plan to be successful but you also may need to adjust along the way, and only through monitoring can you properly adjust.

MIKE: What were some of the biggest hurdles?

RON: People and a traditional mind-set! We had a lot of great people but when we looked at the integrated tactical plan we realized that we needed to shift people around and do some reorganization to ensure we could execute properly. It’s something that is critical in any integrated strategic plan. Without the right people to execute the plan you will be doomed to failure.

MIKE: Any other hurdles?

RON: Getting everyone on the same page. With a common, traditional culture of product silos, I needed to get product leaders and the Regional leaders to understand the plan, buy in and be prepared to make changes, some significant, in staff and in industry traditions. This was achieved by getting them together in a room and getting them comfortable with sharing resources, and helping one another to do even more in their product and geographic areas. It was about showing everyone how an integrated approach will make the overall pie bigger and get us closer to achieving our mission and that was the most important thing.

MIKE: Any final words?

RON: I think that that first year of a multi-year plan is the toughest. You have to stick with the plan, make adjustments, get the right people in the right place and monitor carefully. The fundraising and marketing efforts and improvements accelerate from year to year. The first and second years, not as much as years 3, 4 and 5. Believe in it and stick with it. – A GOOD PLAN WITH THE RIGHT PEOPLE TO EXECUTE IT.