The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) is striving to gain a better view of its constituent in order to be able to create more targeted communications both offline and online. The problem faced by many non-profit organizations today is that their existing database infrastructure was constructed around direct mail, but increasingly non-profits are communicating with constituents across an array of channels, says Gene Austin, CEO at constituent engagement solutions provider Convio. “Non-profits need to be able manage all of these activities cost effectively while also gaining a full view of constituent interactions online and offline,” says Austin. JDRF recently engaged Convio for fundraising, events management and constituent management software, including replacing the non-profit’s existing technology with Convio’s CommonGround CRM solution. As a result, JDRF and its 100 local affiliates will be able to more easily access information about donors and potential donors, says James Szmak, chief information officer at JDRF. The single database will be used to drive all of the organization’s communications, including phone conversations, e-mail and postal mail. In the near future, JDRF plans to use the new platform to help it create personalized Web experiences for constituents as well. And, because it is an open platform, JDRF will be able to integrate mobile and social media. “We were looking for a 360-degree view of donors,” says Szmak. By using CommonGround, JDRF will have a better understanding of constituents’ activities, allowing the organization “to individually have informed conversations with our donors and potential donors based on what we know about them in our system,” he continues. JDRF expects to begin sending out more targeted direct mailings from both the national headquarters and at the local chapter level this fall. Examples of such communications might include a mailing specifically designed for people who participated in one of the organization’s fundraising walks in the past 12 months or for people who participated in previous years but, not recently. Szmak said he expects the organization’s overall mail volume to remain the same but, expects donation levels per constituent to increase as a result of producing more targeted communications. The strategy should improve constituent relations in other ways, as well, he adds. “Everyone was thinking that all communications were going to move to the Web,” says Szmak. “But people consume information in many different fashions and we know that our constituents are strongly opinionated about how we communicate with them.” With the new platform, JDRF can now communicate with constituents in manner in which they prefer. JDRF will also use the Convio platform to help it track donors who have moved, enabling it to send an invitation to join the nearest chapter to their new location. This is something JDRF couldn’t do previously. The relationship with Convio also includes the use of TeamRaiser for events management, which will give volunteers and other individuals the ability to easily create and maintain fundraising Web sites as well as manage e-mail communications.