Rookie of the Quarter - Alexandria Sewell

Rookie of the Quarter: Alexandria S.

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Rookie of the Quarter - Alexandria Sewell

At CCAH, we know that progress is what keeps us relevant and keeps us moving toward our mission — advancing change and committing to activism that makes a difference. That’s why each quarter we like to recognize one of our newest employees who is helping move us toward our goals and continuing our push for progress. Our Rookie of the Quarter award is given to an employee who has started their CCAH journey in the past year and has shown their willingness to go above and beyond. They are nominated by the CCAH management committee (our partners, VPs, and president, Kim Cubine), and they exemplify CCAH’s commitment to progress.

This quarter, we are recognizing Alexandria S.

Alexandria started her career at FRIDA – The Young Feminist Fund, where she led website communications for one of the world’s largest grant-funding feminist organizations. The experience inspired her to launch her own website and initiative, YoungBlackFeminist, dedicated to discussing the latest pressing issues in racial justice and women’s rights activism. Alexandria then broadened her writing career into brand communications work for a wide range of start-ups, which honed her writing skills as she pursued a Bachelor of Arts in Music Performance. After graduating university, Alexandria returned to activism-themed writing and dived into the world of fundraising copywriting at CCAH!

After work, you can find her singing any song she can get her hands on (from opera to Beyonce), reading a good book, enjoying nature, and hanging out with friends and family.

We are proud to have Alexandria as part of our CCAH family and cannot wait to see what comes next. Congratulations on being our Rookie of the Quarter!

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What CCAH Is Thankful for This Holiday Season

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CCAH has a LOT to be thankful for! The past year has seen new challenges to overcome, but through it all, we’ve done incredible work with our amazing clients. Our CCAH family has grown as we’ve welcomed new employees and clients: intelligent, creative, collaborative individuals that make our work space better and brighter every day.

We are proud that CCAH has become a place that feels like home all year round, from raising money for incredible causes, like researching cures for diabetes and cancer, helping to protect public lands and animals in need, or to helping elect democratic women. After a year full of progress toward our collective goal to make the world a better place, our hearts could not be more filled with thanks and gratitude.

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“So thankful for talented and dedicated teammates that make even the most hectic schedules achievable!” – Brenna, Principal and SVP of Digital

“I am thankful for my health and my family…and for the opportunity to work at CCAH. While it’s only been a short time, I’m so happy to be part of the team and can’t wait to see what the future holds!” – Jennifer, VP, Direct Mail

“I am thankful to be blessed with such an encouraging, loving, and hilarious family!” – Arwen, Account Representative, Direct Mail

“I am thankful that my wife and I are growing from a two-person household to 3. We are expecting a new child in early spring 2022!!” – Delan, Account Representative, Digital

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“I am thankful for my team for their support and kindness.” 
– Steven, Senior Copywriter

“I am thankful for my nephews and the eternal youth they provide me while we’re blowing bubbles, putting together Legos, or playing with Play-Doh.” 
– Beth, Account Manager, Direct Mail

“I’m thankful for all the people in my life–friends, family, coworkers, clients—that always pull together to support and encourage each other.” 
– Colleen, VP, Digital

“I am thankful to work with coworkers who have turned into true friends.” 
– Stephanie, Account Representative, Direct Mail

“I’m thankful for the enduring love and support of my amazing boyfriend Rob.” 
– Jessica, Production Manager

“This year, I’m especially thankful for the amazing scientists finding vaccines that are saving lives and keeping loved ones healthy. The pandemic has made me even more appreciative of family, friendships and a supportive workplace.” – Adva, SVP, Digital Ads

“I’m thankful that my previous employment closed and laid me off due to pandemic economic impacts because it allowed me/forced me to follow my passion of working with nonprofits and start work with CCAH!” – Crystal, Senior Account Representative, Direct Mail

“I am so grateful for a supportive work community that cares deeply about everyone’s well-being – especially during the high-octane year-end giving season!” – Mike, Digital Advertising Manager

From our CCAH family to yours, we hope you have a wonderful holiday season!

February Mini Spotlights

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CCAH is full of superstar employees who are going above and beyond to make the world a better place. Whether they’ve worked here for 20 years or just one, every person has the opportunity to make real change. We decided we wanted to show off these go getters with our new mini spotlight series! Each month, we will be highlighting employees on our social media pages who are doing incredible things, both inside and outside the office; however, if you missed any posts, have no fear! Check out a recap of our mini spotlights for February below! In honor of Black History Month, we are excited to celebrate some of the coworkers we are lucky enough to have work with us at CCAH.

Quentin Patrick

To start off our #CCAHSpotlight Black History Month series, we are excited to feature the face of CCAH, Quentin Patrick. Quentin has been the Office Administrator at CCAH for over 20 years! When he is not caring for our staff, he is mentoring inner city youth, biking the national mall, and advocating for civil rights. His favorite memory at CCAH is creating holiday cards for the White House during the Obama Administration. We are beyond proud to work with this independent, reliable and committed coworker who goes above and beyond everyday to make CCAH feel like home.

Alana Ralph

We’re continuing with a creative superstar: Alana Ralph! Alana has been working at CCAH for 5 years as a Production Designer. In our art department, she is a design force. Her art has spanned from assisting with Nasty Woman buttons for Hillary Clinton’s campaign to designing t-shirts for stuffed animals going to pediatric patients. Getting to do work for causes that align with her beliefs isn’t all she does. Outside of the office, she is an incredible mom to her 3 year old daughter and the owner of an Etsy store where she creates invitations and stationary that are works of art. We are incredibly proud to work with such a dedicated, inspirational, creative coworker who brings our clients’ work to life.

Jessica Acheampong

And we’re closing out this mini spotlight series with a Direct Mail rock star: Jessica Acheampong! Jess has been working at CCAH for over a year as an Account Representative. When she is not helping her clients save the world one donor at a time, she loves watching Hamilton on Disney+ (she’s seen it more than 10 times!), celebrating her Ghanaian heritage with family, and spreading cheer wherever she goes—as her supervisor says, “Jess’ positivity and infectious smile can brighten even the dullest of days!” We are beyond proud to work with this exuberant, versatile, and passionate coworker and cannot wait to see what she does next at CCAH!

As the month comes to a close, we want to give a big thank you to these CCAH Superstars and February’s Mini Spotlights!

Reflections on Inauguration Day

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The Inauguration of the 46th President of the United States and the historic swearing in of the first Black and Indian-American woman as Vice President is an extraordinary day that we will all remember for years to come. CCAH is closed so that our staff can celebrate this day, January 20, 2021. 

Many CCAHers volunteered for campaigns across the country – we texted, phone banked, wrote post cards and some even canvassed to see the historic victories of this last election cycle come to pass. But I also want to congratulate the many CCAH teams that worked around the clock for clients that helped bring home those wins. From our accounting team, to designers, to copy writers, to the data team, the text and mobile teams, acquisition list team, client services, and production – job well done.

This cycle, we broke records and made a difference in the outcomes of key races across the country as individuals and on behalf of our clients. CCAH teams helped make these things possible:

  • Sent 10.5 million pieces of voter mail to Georgia Democratic voters, resulting in the registration of at least 145,000 new voters

  • Saw the most successful November and December fundraising months ever for a Democratic Committee client, which directly helped fund expansion of their voter contact work

  • Worked with a racial justice client to talk to155,000 Black voters in Georgia to ensure they knew how to early vote, where to go, what to bring, and what to do if their rights were threatened

  • Sent hundreds of thousands of voter safety packages into communities of color in key states across the country containing masks, sanitizer and voter protection information on behalf of a client

  • Raised more than $104,000,000 for the Biden/Harris campaign

  • Produced and mailed over 10 million voter registration packets in several key states

While we take today to celebrate, we must not forget that the goal of elections is not just to elect new leaders, but to elect leaders who will create the change our country needs.

After today, we jump right back into the hard work of helping our clients fund their critical missions tackling some of today’s most pressing issues. Through the hard work of committed groups and with leadership in the White House, House, and Senate that reflects the fundamental goodness of the people of our nation, we will work to secure a livable planet for future generations, make our world a more humane place for animals, cure life-threatening diseases, and create a just and equitable society for people of all races and religions.

January 21, 2021 will mark the day that America starts on a new path, and CCAH is honored to have played a role in getting here. We look forward to working with our partners to achieve great things!

Seven Reasons to Love the Mail

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At CCAH, it’s a given that we love mail. But, shockingly, we discovered that not everyone has an innate love of one of the key methods of direct response. In the new year, we decided to set the record straight so everyone goes into 2021 loving the mail as much as we do. Here are our top 7 reasons—though there are of course MANY others…

Screen Breaks!

For many people, more time at home these days has also meant more screen time, whether it’s watching Netflix®, holding meetings on Zoom, virtual happy hours, or being glued to a news feed. That’s left many people taking “screen breaks” when they can. Mail is a great way to get your message in front of your audience without keeping their eyes on a screen.

Reinforcement

As giving expands in the digital space, direct mail still affords an opportunity to reinforce your brand and your message, even if donors who receive your mail piece ultimately choose to make their gift online. Multichannel donors tend to be the best donors, and the mail offers another chance to connect with them.

Revenue & Retention

For many organizations, direct mail still pulls in the bulk of individual donor revenue with better retention and ROI than face-to-face or digitally acquired donors.

Prime Real Estate

There is more real estate in direct mail packages, offering greater opportunity to make your case for giving, show your donors their impact, and say thank you! Content-rich, mission-focused printed material like Annual Reports, Calendars, and Newsletters are valued by donors and don’t often translate as well to the digital space.

Reach Supporters Where They Are

More folks may be at home more often, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they have a laptop, mobile device, or internet access. Nearly everyone has access to the mail, however. So direct mail allows you to reach more supporters who either can’t give digitally or don’t feel comfortable doing so.

Timely and Relevant Communications

The mail provides an opportunity to show appreciation for donors in these turbulent times—with nonprofits sending branded facemasks, gloves, activity books, and other useful items in the mail. According to experts, the mail is not likely to spread COVID-19. And since bulk mail stamps are machine affixed, there’s even less reason to worry.

Staying Power

People will hold onto fundraising mail to donate at the end of the month when they write out checks to pay monthly bills. We see this in the “long legs” that many direct mail campaigns have. Email doesn’t have the same staying power—it’s easy to delete or scroll past, and folks aren’t likely to sort back through old emails to donate. The bulk of email donations are made within the first few hours, but direct mail sticks around, meaning it offers two points of connection: one when a donor first receives it, and again when they return their gift several days, weeks, or even months, later!

In the end, a direct mail program is entirely what you make of it! If you use industry best practices and find the best ways to reach out to your donors where they are, mail has the chance to make all the difference for your organization. For help kick starting your direct mail program or to revamp one you already have, reach out to work with us!

Thanks(for)giving

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You take great pains to add a new donor to your file… And then what? It’s so important to make a donor feel welcomed and thanked! In addition to making them feel like a part of your organization, a thank-you can also serve as their tax receipt. And acknowledgement programs are not just good for donor relations, they can also benefit your organization!

Not only is it a best practice to send a follow-up thanking donors for their contributions, whether online or through the mail (or both!), sending a thank-you note also gives donors another opportunity to give. And it’s not too soon to ask—remember recency is the strongest indicator of likelihood of next action, in this case, to make another gift.

By reducing time to next gift, you’re able to upgrade donors into “multi-giver” status, grooming their giving habits before they become too solidified and tying them more closely to your organization and mission, and making them more likely to become long-term donors.

Acknowledgements also give you a great opportunity to create multichannel donors. Whether you’re including online gifts in your direct mail acknowledgments program (if you don’t already, start doing this!) or sending an email thank you to offline donors (food for thought: how often and quickly do you add emails and sync offline giving into your eCRM?), acknowledgements are an easy way to reach donors across platforms so they have multiple ways to interact with your organization. And, if they reply to an acknowledgment sent in a channel different from the channel in which they made their original gift, they have now raised their hand to receive communication through that medium as well.

It’s no surprise that multichannel donors are some of the best donors an organization can have, so it’s worthwhile to integrate acknowledgments and update your data infrastructure to allow it!

Now for some specifics:

  • To really cement a new donor’s relationship with your organization, try creating a welcome kit to acknowledge first time donors and ask for a second gift. These touchpoints, often direct mail packages, can include lots of information pertinent to new donors—brochures about programs and impact, an explanation of your monthly giving program, information about estate planning for future gifts, and even a member card! Welcome kits are a great way to show new donors that you appreciate their contribution to your organization. Welcome kits can be totally digital too—how are you sending your welcome to new donors over email? Organizations often send  a “kit” spread out over several emails, but you can also create a “supporter hub” landing page where new donors can find all that information in a single location.
  • Once donors are on your file, don’t be afraid to include an ask in your acknowledgments. Keep it soft, and make sure the focus of your copy is on saying thank you, but when given another opportunity—many donors will take you up on it and send an additional contribution!
  • No one has ever said, “stop thanking me so much”, so once you’ve made a basic program turnkey, test expanding your acknowledgments to include other channels like phone (think thank-a-thons, and prerecorded thank you messages from staff or your board) and SMS. Remember: peer-to-peer texting doesn’t require a previous opt-in, so you can text donors a short thank you and then ask them to opt-in for additional updates! (Though if you want to truly grow your SMS program, add an opt-in to your donation forms and reply devices to collect them upfront.)

Investing in an acknowledgement program is a necessity, not only for tax liability purposes and donor transparency, but also to constantly work toward building a better supporter experience and cultivating life-long relationships with your donors. Reach out to CCAH to work with us, and we’ll help you determine the best way to tell your donors Thanks(for)giving!