American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Foundation

Individual Giving Program

Converting members to donors and doing more good.

OVERVIEW

As the world’s leading organization for chemical engineering professionals (spanning 60,000 members over 110 countries), the American Institute of Chemical Engineers established their Foundation to do more good  around the world and for their profession. They ran into a question we hear a lot from similar organizations:

“How do we get people who pay membership fees to make donations?”

But engagement and results seemed stagnant after working with different firms to help answer that question. They were looking for new ideas, a fresh perspective, and a bolder look.

HOW WE HELPED

We were charged with increasing education around the Foundation and the importance of giving back, enhancing the integration of solicitation across channels, and helping determine how to reach their various member segments–from young professionals to senior members. We built a plan with four core appeal phases using direct mail and email solicitation. We also added a Foundation-specific impact newsletter that was printed for donors and made available digitally for all (a first for them).

Every element of the program was backed by a data-driven approach, with different messages for specific audience segments. Our formal campaign reports focused on actionable insights, not just numbers and graphs. This included focusing on the response by various member segments, their gift level, what they gave to, and how it compared to their past history.

The Foundation has a great story to tell, but they had to stop trying to do everything for everyone to rise above the rest of the association’s communications. Instead, we helped them focus on crafting a bold message and look for the right people while continually reminding them of their amazing impact at work.

services utilized

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