Case Study: American Heart Association unifies donor data and boosts retention with Merkle

American Heart Association unifies 127M+ transactions with Merkle

The American Heart Association, a large nonprofit, faced the challenge of unifying data from numerous disparate donor databases across its various giving programs. This fragmentation made it difficult to understand constituent behavior across channels and demographics. To guide their strategy and drive donations, revenue, and retention, they collaborated with vendor Merkle, utilizing its Merkury platform for identity resolution and Rapid Audience Layer for data ingestion.

Merkle implemented a solution that processed over 127 million transactions to create the organization's first single view of its constituents. This enabled the AHA to gain insights into donor retention, crossover between programs, and demographic differences. The results revealed strategic opportunities for cross-promotion and showed that donors typically gave to only one program, alleviating concerns about cannibalization. This enhanced constituent experience is now helping to build greater loyalty and sustain long-term revenue growth.

American Heart Association