The customer relationship marketing (CRM) firm, Merkle (www.merkle.com), which is the nation’s largest privately-held agency, announced that its Response Management Group (RMG) subsidiary has been selected by TechnoServe (www.technoserve.org) to manage the nonprofit organization’s direct mail donation processing.

TechnoServe has programs in 30 developing countries worldwide and operates under a mission to enable entrepreneurial men and women in struggling areas to build businesses that produce income, opportunity and economic growth for their families, communities and countries. Merkle RMG was awarded the three-year contract after an extensive RFP evaluation, in which TechnoServe closely examined numerous processing vendors.  Merkle RMG provides caging services (opening mail, depositing checks and processing credit cards), as well as data capture and fulfillment of personalized acknowledgments for more than 20,000 gifts received by the organization annually.

“During the evaluation process, not only did Merkle possess the necessary capabilities to meet our needs, they also had an impressive reputation, consistently receiving positive reviews from our peers in the nonprofit industry, as well as our other agency partners and vendors,” said Anna Gibson, senior director of development and communications for TechnoServe. “Historically, TechnoServe had conducted all of its own payment processing. With our own unique processes, we needed a customized approach, so we had anticipated a complicated and costly transition. But Merkle made it so easy – attending to every detail and consulting with us to anticipate and prevent any potential problems. The conversion was simply seamless, and the per-transaction cost is significantly lower than our in-house processing. We couldn’t be happier with the results.”  

“We are excited to be partnering with TechnoServe to help them grow their direct mail fundraising efforts,” said Bill Sayre, President of Merkle Response Management Group. “Their donations are now being processed quickly and accurately on a consistent basis regardless of the volume of mail received each day.  Acknowledgements are being turned around more quickly than ever, and in many cases are already resulting in better donor satisfaction. We are proud to be associated with the good work done by TechnoServe, and look forward to helping them grow their direct mail fundraising program and the lifetime value of their donors.”

About TechnoServe: TechnoServe empowers people in the developing world to build businesses that break the cycle of poverty. A growing enterprise generates jobs and creates other income opportunities for poor people, enabling them to improve their lives and secure a better future for their families. Since its founding in 1968, the U.S.-based nonprofit has helped to create or expand thousands of businesses, benefiting millions of people in more than 40 countries. The Financial Times has rated TechnoServe one of the top five NGOs for corporate partnerships. TechnoServe’s corporate partners include Cargill, The Coca-Cola Company, General Mills, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Nestlé-Nespresso, Olam International and Walmart, among others. Charity Navigator has also awarded its highest Four Star ranking to TechnoServe for each of the past five years