Merkle is proud to be sponsoring and speaking at the DMA Nonprofit Federation's 2012 Washington Nonprofit Conference, taking place in Washington, DC on March 1 - 2, 2012.  This year's conference is focused on innovative strategies and creative approaches to fundraising that will help attendees identify and develop new initiatives for their programs, as well as increase donations.

On Thursday, March 1 at 10:15am, Bethany Bauman, Senior Director, Digital Strategy at Merkle will moderate a panel entitled "Follow That Donor!  How to Succeed with Digitally-Driven Multi-Channel Donor Stewardship." The panel will address and discuss digital and multi-channel topics including:

1) How do I track multi-channel behavior?
2) How do I balance solicitation and stewardship between channels?
3) What are the best ways to build my email housefile?
4) How do I get my online audience to donate? Should I care if my offline donors go online?
5) And of course, what does social networking have to do with it all?

Next, at 12:45, Greg Fox, Merkle's Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer will host a lunchtime roundtable discussion around “Getting New Donors to Give Again: Second Gift Strategies.”

At 2:00pm on Thursday, March 1, Merkle's Angie Moore, SVP - CRM Office, Nonprofit Group will speak with Alisa Hamilton, Director of Project Management, CMI and Craig Wood, CEO, Clarity Group in a session entitled, "New Industry Data: Understanding Satisfaction with the Donor Experience."  In this session, the results of a groundbreaking study that blends direct constituent research on satisfaction with the giving experience of four health charities with the actions and engagement of those constituents.  Constituent satisfaction is the new "must have" to drive greater financial impact for your program. Don't miss the unveiling...

At 10:00am on Friday, March 2nd, Bethany Bauman, Senior Director, Digital Strategy at Merkle and Robbin Wilson, Senior Director, Client Advisory Group, Merkle will speak with Lynn Kallgren, Associate Director of Development, Annual Fund Director, The Salvation Army Divisional Headquarters in a session entitled "The Holiday Rush - Launching an Integrated Digital Strategy Overnight."  In this session, Bethany, Robbin and Lynn will share their story of how the Salvation Army and their Share the Light campaign strategically added targeted and coordinated digital campaigns, and how tough decisions were made to leave some strategies behind for maximum effect during the 2011 holiday season.  Attendees will leave this session with an understanding of how to right size their ideas for rapid deployment, how to integrate a national campaign into a more regionally focused campaign and how to set expectations for a multi-media/multi-channel program.

And on Friday, March 2 at 1:45pm, Josh Whichard, Senior Director, Client Strategy at Merkle will moderate a panel entitled "How a 100 Year Old Principle Can Reshape Our Thinking on Who We Target as Low, Mid & High Value Donors." In this session, the panel will address ways in which the Pareto Principle, otherwise known as the “80/20 rule,” can be leveraged to improve identification of “mid-level donors.” Modern application of this simple rule can create effective marketing efforts through all channels, inform better creative planning, and improve list targeting. Attendees should leave with a fresh perspective on how to identify and focus on the smaller minority which drives the great majority of program results.

For more information on the DMA Nonprofit Federation's 2012 Washington Nonprofit Conference, please visit their conference website today!