As a marketer specialising in data-driven techniques I spend a lot of my time helping charities understand the relationships they have with their constituents through analysis of their data so that relationships can be developed in a way that will be most productive for the charity and most acceptable to the constituent. The management of the relationship is a marketing function.
It is evident that not everyone that a charity benefits from is a donor; some constituents need to remain at arm’s length and are happy to buy merchandise, attend events or even organise appeals but will not ever be or want to be seen as donors. However their activities still raise funds for the charity. Any attempt to convert them – even from ad hoc donor to committed giver – can put them off altogether. This is what was meant by delivering the right message at the right time to the right person.
We don’t have to go back too far in history to find the definition of Marketing, only about 50 years: “the identification of a need and the addressing of that need through efficient and effective use of an organisation’s resources, to make a profit”. For nfp’s read profit=funds. I don’t necessarily agree that fundraising should necessarily be a part of a marketing department, but marketing techniques certainly support fundraising ; however in a smaller charity fundraising will sit most comfortably within a marketing environment rather than finance, admin or general management.
Database Marketing Counsel 