Merkle (www.merkle.com), a leading customer relationship marketing (CRM) firm and the nation’s largest privately-held agency, announced that Angie Moore, senior vice president and CRM officer for the company’s nonprofit practice, will co-chair the 2012 Washington Nonprofit Conference, which takes place March 1-2, 2012 at the Renaissance Washington DC Downtown. In addition, Moore and four other Merkle leaders will participate as speakers on a range of topics, including digital strategy, segmentation approaches and retention success.

 The conference, organized by the DMA Nonprofit Federation, will explore innovative strategies and creative approaches to fundraising that will help identify and develop new nonprofit initiatives for increasing donations. Also speaking at the event are Merkle’s Bethany Bauman, senior director, digital strategy; Josh Whichard, senior director, client strategy; Robbin Wilson, senior director, client advisory group; and Greg Fox, senior vice president and chief strategy officer.  

 The first session, moderated by Bauman, is on Thursday, March 1, at 10:15 a.m. Entitled “Follow That Donor! How to Succeed with Digitally-Driven Multi-Channel Donor Stewardship,” this panel session will discuss managing the donor relationship through multiple offline and online touchpoints. Next, at 12:45, Fox will host a lunchtime roundtable discussion around “Getting New Donors to Give Again: Second Gift Strategies.” Then at 2:15 p.m., Moore will discuss the results of a groundbreaking research study on the connection between satisfaction with the giving experience and donor retention and value, entitled "New Industry Data: Understanding Satisfaction with the Donor Experience." 

 On Friday, March 2^nd, at 10:00 a.m., Bauman and Wilson will present as part of a panel session discussing the successful Salvation Army Share the Light campaign, called “The Holiday Rush – Launching an integrated Digital Strategy Overnight.” And at 1:45 p.m., Whichard will moderate a panel entitled “How a 100-Year-Old Principle Can Reshape Our Thinking on Who We Target as Low, Mid & High Value donors,” addressing how to leverage modern-day applications of the Pareto Principle, otherwise known as the 80/20 rule, to attract mid-level donors.

 “The Washington Nonprofit Conference is the gathering of the best brands and the most talented minds serving the industry. Merkle is proud to be the agency for many of these world-class brands and will be presenting success stories of several of these clients,” said Moore. “It has been an honor to serve as the co-chair of the conference this year and to focus on bringing a laser focus to the issues that are most important.”