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.