Fundraising Agency Observes 30-year Milestone

Amergent, of Peabody, Mass., is marking its 30th anniversary this month.

Amergent (pronounced ah-MUR-gent, with a soft “g”) was founded in 1980 as Target Marketing. Since that time, it has been helping nonprofit organizations raise funds by direct marketing, implementing successful campaigns by mail, telephone, and online for organizations as diverse as the Special Olympics, NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the Phoenix Zoo, and Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation.

The company has been through a number of changes over 30 years, including a new name in 1996. But its client list is uniquely stable in a dynamic business.

Catholic Medical Mission Board has relied on Amergent to help it raise money for 13 years, as has the Greater Chicago Food Depository. The Archdiocese of Chicago has been with the company for 12 years. Catholic Foreign Mission Society of America (Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers) and St. Anthony’s Guild have each been clients for 11 years.

But Amergent’s ability to retain clients may be rivaled by its ability to keep employees. A third of Amergent’s talent have been with the company 10 years or more. Half have been there at least 6 years.
Unique in the marketing and advertising business, the firm tends to keep its employees (which it calls “talent”) for the long term. The company founder, Chairman & CEO Jim Trebbe, is also its most senior employee, with 30 years on the job. Top management includes two others: President Jack Doyle (25th year with Amergent) and Chief Operating Officer Rick Hohman (15th year).

The company is located in Centennial Park in Peabody, Mass. The Amergent suite of offices hums with the work of strategists, writers, designers, programmers, analysts, and production professionals.

Amergent produces about 17.5 million pieces of mail per year for its clients. Its laser printers image 15,000,000 letters, and its “hand writers” address 300,000 envelopes by hand for special mailings that need a personal touch.

In the increasingly important area of online fundraising, Amergent produces campaigns for about a third of its clients, reaching hundreds of thousands of people annually.

Amergent clients’ communications integrate a variety of media, including mail, email, telephone, online video, FaceBook, and Twitter.

For more information on Amergent or the challenges of keeping employees engaged for the long term, please contact:

Rebecca Campbell
Marketing Coordinator
Amergent
9 Centennial Drive
Peabody, MA 01960
978-278-1907
rcampbell@amergent.com

She can also arrange interviews with members of Amergent’s top management.

Suggested interview topics:

• the secrets of keeping a direct marketing client satisfied for 10 years
• the principles of fundraising that defy conventional wisdom
• changes in fundraising over three decades
• the people behind the people who want to change the world
• doing well by doing good
• creating a work environment that keeps employees engaged for decades