ALS Association – Personas

Project Description

Charity Dynamics partnered with The ALS Association, the only national non-profit organization fighting Lou Gehrig’s Disease on every front to chart a new communications course in the post-Ice Bucket Challenge era, using Personas to understand key audience segments.

Project Details

Client ALS Association
Skills Persona Development
View www.alsa.org

Challenge

After adding 1,000,000+ new donors as a result of the Ice Bucket Challenge, The Association needed to recalibrate its communications to speak to new audiences
A growing, yet still “lean and mean” national Digital and Development staff needed to focus its efforts on key segments with the most potential
The Association’s independent Chapters needed additional support in their own marketing efforts

Approach

Intensive discovery with key stakeholders on the National and Chapter level to understand how communications support their program, advocacy and fundraising goals
Comprehensive review of current donor studies, website analytics, current email efforts and user experience (UX)
Extensive surveys of current donors, volunteers, website visitors and clients
Detailed analysis of pre-and post-Ice Bucket Challenge donor characteristics and performance
Creation of detailed Persona profiles for eight key audiences, using engaging back stories that allow National and Chapter staff and vendors to gain a truer understanding of the challenges, goals and opportunities to engage different groups as they craft communications

Outcome

The ALS Association has a clear understanding of the target audiences that are most likely to move the needle in future fundraising efforts
The ALS Association has a roadmap to update their technology to better target supporters with the ‘right message at the right time.’
The ALS Association has the tools it needs at the national and local level to develop consistent and compelling communications that put the donor at the center of the conversation.

See The Result