Multi-Channel Innovation Summit: Audience First. Channel Connected. Results Driven.

• Collin D. Ward, Chief Innovation Officer, Newport ONE
• Tiffany Reed, Vice President, Mal Warwick Donordigital
• Mary Getz, Principal & Founder, MESG Strategies
• Chris Brooks, Vice President, Membership & Direct Response, League of Conservation Voters

The nonprofit world keeps racing to keep up with new fundraising trends — AI-driven personalization, omnichannel journeys, predictive analytics, and the next “must-test” digital tactic. But what’s actually working? What’s just flashy? And how can we tell the difference before budgets and time are wasted chasing hype? This candid and conversational session brings together seasoned experts from leading fundraising agencies, alongside a nonprofit voice that’s in the trenches every day. Moderated by Chris Brooks, Vice President of Membership and Direct Response Fundraising at the League of Conservation Voters, this dynamic discussion will explore what’s truly moving the needle across digital, direct mail, and integrated channels. Chris will challenge agency leaders to back up their bold ideas with real results, grounding every conversation in data, ROI, and donor experience. Together, the panel will unpack what keeps them up at night, what genuinely excites them about the future, and how they’re leveraging data and AI to work smarter, not just faster. Expect lively debate, honest reflection, and practical takeaways that go beyond jargon. The format blends quick insights with guided discussion and audience Q&A, ensuring a dynamic exchange of ideas between the stage and the room. Whether you’re an agency strategist or a nonprofit practitioner, you’ll leave this session with a clear sense of what’s working now, where to experiment next, and how to avoid the costly traps of trend-chasing, all through the lens of collaboration, curiosity, and results.

Learning Outcomes:

• Distinguish Signal from Noise Learn how to evaluate new fundraising trends, tools, and tactics through a strategic lens, distinguishing genuine innovation from costly distractions. Using real-world examples, panelists will share how they test, measure, and decide when to invest or pivot, ensuring every experiment aligns with mission, budget, and ROI.

• Erin Gannon, Vice President, Partnerships, Blue State

• Derek Drockelman, VP, Sales & Marketing, ROI Solutions, Inc.
• Kacey Crawford, Director, Digital Fundraising, WETA
• Michelle Jiles, Director, Data Strategy and Development Services, WETA

This session explores why audience-first fundraising requires more than connected systems—it requires shared definitions, common objectives, and coordinated decision-making across fundraising, marketing, digital, analytics, and constituent services. Through a candid conversation with a nonprofit organization, we’ll examine how breaking down internal silos leads to more meaningful donor relationships, better cross-channel engagement, and stronger fundraising outcomes. Attendees will leave with practical ideas for building organizational alignment before investing in the next technology initiative.

Learning Outcomes:

• Recognize the organizational barriers that prevent many nonprofits from delivering truly audience-first, omnichannel experiences, even when the technology is in place.
• Identify practical ways to align teams around shared constituent definitions, engagement goals, and fundraising objectives to improve collaboration across channels.
• Apply a relationship-centered approach to planning and measuring fundraising that prioritizes the donor experience over departmental ownership and channel-specific metrics.

• Dave Martin, Vice President of Marketing, CharityEngine
• Jonsie Stone, Chief of Staff, Rail Passengers Association

Your donors don’t experience channels. They experience your organization. But when email, direct mail, social, SMS, and your website tell different stories, arrive at the wrong time, or fail to recognize what a donor has already done, even strong campaigns can feel disconnected.

In this practical session, Dave Martin of CharityEngine will introduce five principles for connected fundraising: give every channel a clear job, carry one story across many expressions, reduce friction, let donor behavior shape the journey, and measure relationships rather than isolated campaign results.

Jonsie Stone will bring the framework to life with a look at how Rail Passengers Association moved beyond assumptions about “mail donors” and “digital donors” to understand how supporters behave across channels. She’ll share how the organization compares direct mail and online response, tests stories across appeals, and identifies the themes that resonate with different audiences.

Attendees will leave with five concrete exercises they can use right away to map a campaign, uncover channel gaps, audit friction, and follow the donor journey from discovery to recurring support.

Learning Outcomes:

• Identify story, timing, data, and recognition gaps that create a disconnected donor experience.
• Give each channel a distinct role while adapting one consistent campaign story across multiple touchpoints.
• Use donor behavior, rather than demographics alone, to shape outreach and reduce friction.
• Measure donor progression and cross-channel engagement instead of evaluating each channel in isolation.

• Tyler Kalogeros-Treschuk, Senior Director, Individual Giving, Center for Reproductive Rights
• Kate Hollandsworth, Senior Vice President of Strategy, AKwire
• Katie Valvo, VP, Nonprofit Data, Epsilon

This session challenges conventional fundraising wisdom by exploring whether our focus on high-value donors is overshadowing the long-term potential of broader donor audiences. Through data insights, we’ll examine the break-even potential of lower dollar donors, the risks of short-term ROI strategies, and the consequences of leaving everyday supporters behind.

Learning Outcomes:

• Evaluate the true long-term value of low-dollar donors using real data trends.
• Understand the trade-offs between short-term ROI and sustainable mission growth.
• Identify gaps in pipeline strategy that may exclude or undervalue mass donor segments.

• Deirdre Ball, Director of Digital Fundraising, American Rivers
• John Newman, Senior Account Executive, Mal Warwick Donordigital
• Melanie Smith, Senior Account Executive, Mal Warwick Donordigital

Thousands of messages compete for your donors’ attention every day—and your team works hard to make each touchpoint count. But are all those efforts delivering the return you need? This session dives into how to evaluate your fundraising strategy across channels to maximize ROI—not just in revenue, but in time and team energy. We’ll explore the power of multi-channel attribution and integration, showing how matchback analysis and lift calculations can reveal the true drivers of donor behavior. You’ll see how layering channels like mail, email, texting, and digital advertising can create meaningful lift—and how to find the sweet spot in messaging cadence that keeps donors engaged without overwhelming them. But integration isn’t just about tactics—it’s about people. We’ll share real-world examples from three organizations that successfully broke down silos, built cross-functional collaboration, and created a culture of support that elevated their campaigns. You’ll learn how to motivate colleagues across departments to align around shared goals, without adding hours to anyone’s workload. This session is designed for fundraisers who want to make smarter, future-focused decisions in an increasingly complex landscape. Whether you’re refining your attribution strategy or building a new one from scratch, you’ll leave with practical insights and tested results to help your team work smarter, not harder—and exceed your revenue goals with confidence.

Learning Outcomes:

• By attending this session participants will learn about the benefits of integrating fundraising messaging across channels and the most important tactics to get the biggest bang for your buck—both in revenue and staff time.
• By attending this session participants will learn the importance of matched-back results and ROI analysis—and how to go about conducting that analysis—to get the full picture of impact and to evaluate your program holistically.
• By attending this session participants will learn how to foster collaboration across departments and break down silos—building a culture of support that drives campaign success. Real-world examples will show how teams

• Allyson Goldsmith, Associate Director of Digital Advertising, USA for UNHCR
  
• Kristen Witkin, Senior Vice President, MRSS, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

We won’t mince words: AI-powered search changes everything. As more people turn to “answer engines” like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google’s AI overviews and AI mode, traffic to actual websites is plummeting – and nonprofits are no exception. Suddenly we have a “great divergence” between interest and traffic: even as more people ask Google and AI tools about your organization and issues, fewer of them are landing on your site where you can turn curiosity into action. This shift is a threat to your digital fundraising and advocacy—but also an opportunity to meet your audiences where they are. Answer Engine Optimization (AEO), growing out of Search Engine Optimization (SEO), is about making sure your organization shows up, gets cited, and earns trust in AI-driven responses – even as organic search transforms month-to-month and week-to-week. In this session, M+R’s AEO lead and the content strategy team from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center’s Giving team will break down the basics of how nonprofits can: monitor and measure the impact of AI search, track their brand visibility in answer engines, create content that AI can’t ignore, and integrate AI search best practices with their paid search, brand awareness and broader fundraising program. Participants will learn the latest information about this emerging field, and walk away with clear steps to keep their organizations visible, relevant, and well-positioned to convert interest into support – even as search transforms how donors learn about their organization and their issue. 

Learning Outcomes: 

• The latest trends and changes in organic search – how the “great divergence” between search impressions and declining traffic poses both opportunities and threats for their organization. 
• How AEO strategies can help drive awareness, engagement and donations. 
• Concrete strategies for tracking website traffic, monitoring their brand in AI search, developing AI-proof website content, and integrating advertising + marketing programs.