NIO Summit

Let’s face it…many of us are passionate about our causes and not all of us see eye-to-eye. But no matter what your stance, one thing remains constant. If you want to raise funds for your organization, you must connect with people. And the principles for communicating with your constituents transcends the cause itself.

Richard Viguerie and Roger Craver are longtime friends and brilliant marketers that happen to work on opposite sides of the political spectrum. Over the course of their careers, they’ve found that even though the ideologies of their audiences may differ, the basic rules of communication and connection are the same. In this highly informative session, two legends of the industry will share some foundational principles to help you to better connect with your audience and raise more money for your cause.

Roger Craver:

Roger Craver is a disruptor and challenger of the status quo. A pioneer in direct response fundraising in the 60’s, telemarketing in the ’70s, online information services in the ’80s, multi-channel fundraising and communication in the ’90s, and donor-designed strategies today, he brings an experienced and critical eye to the greatest problem faced by today’s nonprofits: donor retention.

Roger, who today edits the daily Agitator (www.theagitator.net) , helped launch some of the household names in the nonprofit advocacy sector: Common Cause, Greenpeace, the National Organization for Women, World Wildlife Fund, Habitat for Humanity, and Amnesty International. He helped revitalize and grow older organizations–the ACLU, the NAACP, Sierra Club, Wilderness Society, League of Women Voters, Heifer Project International, and Planned Parenthood.

He has conducted capital and annual fundraising campaigns, advocacy and membership drives in the U.S., Canada and throughout Europe.

Richard Viguerie:

Back in the 1960s, conservatives – whether political candidates, policy groups, or activist organizations – had no way to get their message past the filter of the liberal mainstream media and into the hands of the American people.

At that time young conservative activist Richard Viguerie discovered that political candidates had to register their campaign donors with state offices ⎯ information that was in the public domain. Collecting those names and addresses by hand, state-by-state, was the beginning of what is now the largest list of active charitable and conservative donors in the world: Viguerie Political Lists.

Starting in 1965, Richard Viguerie grew his list from 12,500 conservative donors to 125,000 – a 1,000% increase – in just one year. Before long, Viguerie’s direct mail agency and lists enabled conservatives to bypass the mainstream media and connect with tens of millions of Americans on a “personal level” regarding issues they cared passionately about.

Viguerie’s “secret weapon” soon had a major role in reshaping America’s political landscape.

As Viguerie’s lists continued to grow, they helped trigger major political upset wins for conservatives⎯most famously the 1980 Reagan Revolution, along with the 1994 conservative sweep of Congress, and the 2010 “shellacking” of the Obama administration and Reid/Pelosi Congress.

Through his direct marketing agency, American Target Advertising, Inc., Viguerie was not only the first in political direct mail fundraising, but is still the proven leader at building large organizations rapidly.