Last week I had the privilege to speak at the St. Louis Chapter of the Association of Funding Professionals Annual Conference about Marketing Secrets of Donor Centered Fundraising. The session was packed with the top fundraising professionals in St. Louis from the Development Team of the Missouri Botanical Garden to Managers of the St. Louis Science Center to Professionals at Teach for America and so many others.

In the session, I told them that there were three main areas that they need to focus on for the most effective donor centered fundraising: target audience, their organizational brands, and themselves! That’s right, to do more effective work for their organizations, they need to do more bring more of themselves to their work.

I shared how being true to a brand resulted in an 18% growth in funds raised, a 233% increase in new donors, and a 534% in ROI. I also talked about the critical role storytelling plays in marketing. We reviewed the development of the “Your Story is Our Story” campaign that I led with my marketing team at Jewish Federation of St. Louis. Check it out here!

Sharing the power of storytelling, how to apply the classic branding best practices to the not-for-profit world, and connecting with hundreds of St. Louis’ fundraising professionals was an amazing way to spend the day. If you have the opportunity to go next year, I highly recommend it! Hope to see you there next year!