The Use of Integrated Marketing Communications by U

There are approximately 1.4 million non-profit organizations in the United States (The Urban Institute, 2006). The non-profit sector currently accounts for 5.2% of gross domestic product in the United States, reporting $1.4 trillion dollars in revenue and $1.3 trillion dollars in assets and employing 9 percent of the country’s workforce (The Urban Institute, 2006). The nonprofit sector is extremely competitive, and organizations are constantly working to attract donors, volunteers, employees, grant funding, and media attention. To gain an advantage, many non-profit organizations have adopted philosophies and strategies once commonly associated with for-profit corporations, Popular marketing concepts, such as market segmentation, market orientation, database marketing, and branding, have been successfully applied to the non-profit sector (Ewing & Napoli, 2005; Venable, Rose, Bush, & Gilbert, 2005). Integrated marketing communications (IMC), described as the integration of advertising, public relations, direct marketing, and sales promotion into a comprehensive plan (Caywood, 1997), has also emerged as a valuable approach for non-profit organizations. Nonprofits adopting this strategy focus on building relationships with supporters and utilize communication tactics like donor appreciation, face-to-face communication, and recurring newsletters.