Unfortunately, it’s a common
misconception that young people are
not interested in volunteering and
donating to charity. The truth of the
matter is that young people are very
interested in charitable causes. In
fact, in 2013 alone, 87% of millennials
donated to charity.
It is true, however, that millennials
do have a unique set of standards and
expectations when it comes to donating
and volunteering.
The United Way of Allegheny County
was looking for a way to bring in
more online donations and engage
millennials. Millennials are generally
not receptive to the old methods of
fundraising (cold calling, letters, etc.).
P1 / UNITED WAY OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY
Meeting the unique
set of standards and
expectations when
it comes to donating
and volunteering to
millenials
P3 / COMMUNITY COLLEGE OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY
Reaching out to alumni
with an arsenal of
communication tools
and services
P4 / NEW HIRES
Fusionmarx largest
round of new hires ever
means expanded and
new services for our
clients
P4 / BEACON OF BLAIR COUNTY
Helping an after school
program expand their
reach, right here in our
backyard
Fusionmarx developed a phenomenal peer-to-peer fundraising site that I think will be a huge spark in getting young people to donate to United Way.
fusionmarxConnect
“”
United Way of Allegheny County looks to Fusionmarx for focus on millennial giving
Volunteers for United Way of
Allegheny County revitalizing a
playground in a Pittsburgh, PA
neighborhood.
>> CONT. PAGE TWO
IS001 FALL / WINTER EDITION
– Micheal J. Herald, Esq., Millennial Steering Committee, United Way of Allegheny County
The website also comes with a custom-built community, which allows users to sign up and share status updates, photos, videos, post blogs, join groups, and more! Similar in design and functionality to Facebook, the community gives My United Way users the unique feeling that the site really is their own.
My United Way also runs on Fusionmarx’s SocialGood software. These tools give United Way a clean, powerful website that gives users the opportunity to raise money on United Way’s behalf. United Way can then track and analyze donor information to mold its future marketing efforts. Whether it be donation amounts, age, or email address, United Way has all the donor information they need to get the most out of their fundraising.
MyUnited Way
M Y U N I T E D W A Y
S O C I A L G O O D G I V I N G
The Tools We Used United Way of Allegheny County
One of the reasons for this is that
millennials are extremely cautious
regarding who they donate money to.
Before making any kind of contribution,
they prefer to do research, finding out how
trustworthy the organization is and exactly
how the money is going to be used.
This research is typically done by
visiting the organization’s website. For
this purpose, it’s important that an
organization’s website clearly explains
who they are trying to help, how they are
trying to help them, and how they have
helped in the past. This is best done with
videos, testimonials, and photos.
Once a charity passes the
“trustworthiness” test, millennials then
want to be able to make their donation
as quickly and easily as possible. Upon
visiting the organization’s website,
it should be instantly clear how a
contribution can be made, and it should be
doable in the least amount of clicks possible.
The same goes for volunteering. Registering
as a volunteer for an upcoming event should
be easy, quick, and painless.
Finally, millennials also want to know that
their contributions are going to be recognized.
Will they be able to share their donations with
their friends and family via social media? Can
they set up their own fundraisers to raise
money on the organization’s behalf?
By partnering with Fusionmarx, the United
Way of Allegheny County has been able to do
all of this and more by launching My United
Way. Since its launch, millennials have been
using the site to raise money for causes that
mean the most to them, all while being able
to share their accomplishments with their
family and friends.
Thanks to Fusionmarx, we have taking a giant leap in peer-to-peer fundraising.
“”
>> CONT. FROM PAGE ONE
– Linda Jones, VP of Campaign DevelopmentUnited Way of Allegheny County
The Community College of Allegheny County
utilizes Fusionmarx’s VDP, magazine, and
email tools to reach out to its alumni database.
VARIABLE DATA DIRECT MAIL
The VDP tools allow mailing recipients to
be addressed by name, as well as receive
information thanking them for their most
recent donation, naming the specific date and
amount. This gives the mailings a personal
touch, which has been shown to increase
donations.
ALUMNNET NEWS MAGAZINE PUBLISHING
Fusionmarx designs the magazines with
custom color photos, graphics, text, and layout.
The magazine is published in both a physical
and digital format and it distributed both
through the postal
service and email.
The magazine
updates alumni on
what is going on
around campus,
what other alumni
are up to, and is
built to create
engagement and
bring in more
donations.
EMAIL DESIGN AND MARKETING
The Community College of Allegheny also
works with Fusionmarx to design and send
custom emails. Fusionmarx creates custom
layouts, graphics, and text for each email blast
and targets each campaign to specific groups
(for example, LYBUNTS and SYBUNTS).
The statistics for each email are precisely
tracked, giving an exact report of who opened
the email, who unsubscribed, who clicked each
individual link, which date the email was last
opened, how many times it was forwarded, and
more. This allows the Community College of
Allegheny County to adjust its email marketing
plan effectively, giving them a thorough
understanding of what is working best for each
individual group.
Unlike many four-year
universities, community colleges
often have a difficult time creating lasting
relationships with alumni. This can make it
hard to bring in much-needed donations.
By partnering with Fusionmarx, the
Community College of Allegheny County has
been able to enliven its alumni database
through updated and effective marketing
campaigns.
The Community College of Allegheny County
works with Fusionmarx to create four
alumni donation appeals per year, as well
as an alumni magazine and regular email
campaigns regarding ongoing events.
All mailings address the recipient by
name, thanking former donors for their
most recent gift, adding a personal touch
to each piece that makes donors feel
appreciated. Recipients that have not
donated in the past receive a separate
mailing, with text specifically written to
inspire first-time donors.
The efforts have been effective in
broadening the Community College of
Allegheny County’s donor database.
CCAC: Fusionmarx provides tools and services to help reach out to alumni.
WHAT WE DO FOR CCAC
Below: Community College of Allegheny County
students ready for the graduation ceremonies.
Right: The CCAC Alumni Association Heritage
Society poses for photographs prior to an event.
Community College of Allegheny County reaches out to alumni
>> READ THE FULL ARTICLE ONLINE AT WWW.FUSIONMARX.COM
KEVIN KEEGAN
As Project Director, Kevin is
often a project’s point person.
He prepares a project plan,
manging the resources that
align the project with broader
outcome goals and measures
the outcome.
STEVE WEITZMAN
Our Communication
Specialist, Steve, manages
media and legislative
contacts for media relations
and grassroots advocacy.
He packages concepts and
programs into persuasive
“messaging” for our clients.
LINDA KOVAL
Linda develops
communications campaigns
that effectively target all
market segments and also
helps with relationship
building strategies and
membership drives for our
association clients.
COURTNEY LYNN
Beyond duties as office
manager, Courtney also is
a project manager and is
responsible for the day-to-
day management of active
accounts as well as drafting/
proofreading written content.
We are delighted to welcome these individuals to the Fusionmarx family. They will greatly expand our services and expertise for our clients.GEORGE SACKANDY; CEO AND FOUNDER FUSIONMARX
“
”
Fusionmarx Welcomes New Team Members
DAVID TESTA
David manages social
and traditional print media
outreach for our clients.
From technical writing, press
releases to social media
updates, David also assist
in writing and editing client
communications campaigns.
Fusionmarx built and helps manage the
Beacon’s website. The Beacon needed a clean,
well-designed website to get its message out and raise
money for its afterschool program.
Fusionmarx worked with the Beacon to shoot and edit
a testimonial video where youth that have been helped
by the Beacon explained the importance it has played in
their lives.
Telling stories is an important part of fundraising, and
with the help
of Fusionmarx,
the Beacon was
able to tell a
story and raise
money through its
website and video.
Beacon of Blair County Helping Youth in Our Region
PAWorkersCompHelpNow.com Growing in a Competitive MarketPAWorkersCompHelpNow
works with Fusionmarx to
design, manage, and craft both
its website and its website
content as well as its social
media efforts.
Fusionmarx works with
PAWorkersCompHelpNow to
write a weekly Pennsylvania
workers’ compensation blog.
The blogs are written with
the best SEO efforts, utilizing
the keywords needed for an
attorney to get noticed on
Google searches.
All blog posts are then shared
on PA WorkersCompHelpNow’s
social media accounts.
Fusionmarx also works to
curate content and other posts
for all of PAWorkersCompHelpNow’s social
and online media.
Fusionmarx has also worked with
PAWorkersCompHelpNow on other marketing
efforts, including the writing of press releases
and white papers.
Fusionmarx has also worked to enter
PAWorkersCompHelpNow’s information into
various directories around the web, greatly
improving its local SEO rankings.
PAWorkersCompHelpNow.com attorney A.J Paltutus,
Esq. during an interview for a Q&A web series.