Direct Response Campaign Services Operating Model, Change Management, Project Management, and Data Engineering (2024-Ongoing)
In 2024, the Development Division within Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) engaged Skeleton Key Strategies to manage an RFP process to re-bid Direct Response fundraising Campaign Services, per its board guidelines. SKS Consultants Amanda Perkins and Justin Birdsong prepared and published the RFP in collaboration with the Direct Response, Development Systems, and recently created Data Strategy & Analytics teams to ensure an effective balance of technical, business, and data strategy-related needs in the RFP.
A strategic pivot
Midway through the RFP process, the Sr. Director of Data Strategy & Analytics (DSA) posited that the organization could actually save more money in the long run, and gain more control over its donor and supporter segmentation, targeting, and attribution strategies – thereby raising more money and engaging more meaningfully with donors and supporters – by transitioning Campaign Services to an in-house operating model.
Recognizing the scale of change to be managed in a short period of time with many other competing priorities, the DSA Sr. Director hired Justin Birdsong and Richard Liebowitz to help create an in-sourced operating model and lead the in-sourcing transition.
Aligning people, processes, and strategy
Justin supported the Sr. Director to create the in-sourced Campaign Services operating model, inclusive of transition roadmap from current to future state; staffing and role recommendations; and proposed matrixed workflows and cross-functional “pods” align technical, business, and operations teams with clear rules of the road (e.g., MOCHA). He continues to support change management and communications efforts for the transition, including convening a Steering Committee of Development and IT leaders to oversee this mission-critical effort.
Rearchitecting and optimizing data for the future
In parallel, Richard leads on the evaluation and re-engineering of Campaign Services code, helping to onboard both PPFA staff and bench-support vendor to a “mid-state” model where PPFA can replicate all of the Campaign Services on their own using their own tools and personnel. He has conducted business process mapping to capture the complex current-state campaign process and identify opportunities for streamlining and speed-to-market, and is leading the effort to inventory all legacy campaign work, recreate it, and transition it in-house over time.
As the engagement evolves, SKS is supporting PPFA’s implementation of the “Harmony Data Hub,” a data warehouse optimized for fundraising and marketing. Our data consultants supplement their data engineering team to streamline audience production, reduce failure points through automation, and enhance donor personalization with improved targeting and attribution capabilities.
