{"id":73327,"date":"2025-08-27T09:21:39","date_gmt":"2025-08-27T13:21:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/network.napco.com\/non-profit-pro\/?post_type=article&#038;p=73327"},"modified":"2025-08-27T09:21:39","modified_gmt":"2025-08-27T13:21:39","slug":"biggest-nonprofit-fundraising-and-marketing-takeaways-from-bridge-and-bridgetech-2025","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/www.nonprofitpro.com\/article\/biggest-nonprofit-fundraising-and-marketing-takeaways-from-bridge-and-bridgetech-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Biggest Nonprofit Fundraising and Marketing Takeaways from Bridge and BridgeTECH 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Thousands of nonprofit leaders, fundraisers and marketers convened at the Gaylord National Resort &amp; Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland, for the 20th annual Bridge to Integrated Marketing and Fundraising Conference. Over three days, attendees gained insights, strategies, and practical takeaways to strengthen donor relationships and elevate mission-driven work.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Hosted by the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dmaw.org\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Direct Marketing Association of Washington (DMAW)<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.afpdc.org\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Association of Fundraising Professionals Washington DC Metro Area Chapter (AFP DC)<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, the conference once again featured robust pre-conference programming for nonprofit tech enthusiasts and for faith-based fundraising professionals. The main event followed, with two full days of sessions exploring everything from cutting-edge digital tactics to timeless best practices. <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">NonProfit PRO<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> was on site to cover it all. Here&#8217;s a recap in case you missed it.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nonprofitpro.com\/article\/4-actionable-lessons-on-artificial-intelligence-for-nonprofits\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">&#8216;4 Actionable Lessons on Artificial Intelligence for Nonprofits&#8217;<\/span><\/a><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Artificial intelligence was front and center at BridgeTECH, a pre-conference event co-presented by <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">NonProfit PRO<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> that focuses on the latest tools and strategies driving nonprofit technology. Multiple sessions, including &#8220;AI Real Talk: What Your Donors and Competitors Are Saying (and What They&#8217;re Actually Doing)&#8221; and &#8220;Powering Your Audiences With Extensive Data and AI Modeling,&#8221; unpacked how nonprofits can move beyond buzzwords to start implementing AI tools effectively.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">We broke down four lessons for fundraisers to introduce AI responsibly and sustainably with help from the sessions&#8217; presenters:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Tareq Alani, co-founder of Chorus AI.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Valeria Sosa Garnica, senior director of learning and impact at Progressive Multiplier Fund.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Shane Marple, vice president of audiences and data analytics at SimioCloud.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Tim Maxton, senior director of annual giving at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Marc Ruben, partner at M+R.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nonprofitpro.com\/article\/how-donor-advised-funds-are-bringing-big-results-to-fundraising-across-the-board\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">&#8216;How Donor-Advised Funds Are Bringing Big Results to Fundraising Across the Board&#8217;<\/span><\/a><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Donor-advised funds (DAFs) are reshaping philanthropy, and nonprofits are learning how to adapt. Various Bridge Conference sessions explored evolving strategies to tap into DAFs.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Danielle Felico, production manager for the President&#8217;s Circle mid-level giving program at Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and Tara Kowsaluk, associate vice president at MissionWired, covered mid-level donor strategies in &#8220;Are You Engaging Your DAF Donors? Strategies for Leveraging DAFs for Mid-Level Growth.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Meanwhile, Elon Packin, head of partnerships at Chariot, delved into peer-to-peer donor tactics during &#8220;DAFs and Peer-to-Peer: How the Largest P2P Fundraisers Are Finding Their Biggest Source of Growth With Donor Advised Funds.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Panelists also shared real-world examples of organizations successfully using DAFs to diversify revenue and deepen donor loyalty.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nonprofitpro.com\/article\/how-direct-mail-and-donor-data-can-help-build-your-major-gift-pipeline\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">&#8216;How Direct Mail and Donor Data Can Help Build Your Major Gift Pipeline&#8217;<\/span><\/a><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Direct mail remains a vital channel for connecting with major donors &#8212; especially when combined with robust data analytics.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Margaret Carter, senior account director at O&#8217;Brien Garrett, and Ryan Treacy, integrated fundraising specialist at The Seeing Eye, demonstrated how to leverage direct mail campaigns to cultivate stronger donor relationships and expand major gift pipelines in &#8220;How Direct Response Can Support Major Donors.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Then, Gabrielle Anthony, development operations lead at Movement 4 Black Lives, and Marissa Maybee, director of nonprofit customer success at Windfall, touched on the effectiveness of donor segmentation and modeling for identifying top prospects during &#8220;How Movement 4 Black Lives Uses Modern Wealth Data to Drive Its Major Gift Program.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nonprofitpro.com\/article\/how-rcs-can-elevate-nonprofits-text-messaging\/#:~:text=Nonprofits%20can%20continue%20to%20use,your%20inbox%2C%E2%80%9D%20she%20said.\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">&#8216;How RCS Can Elevate Nonprofits&#8217; Text Messaging&#8217;<\/span><\/a><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rich Communication Services (RCS) messaging offers nonprofits a new way to interact with supporters. In the session, &#8220;RCS: The Future of Messaging,&#8221; Krishna Ghodiwala, partner at Message Digital, highlighted case studies where RCS enabled nonprofits to deliver richer, more interactive messages that outperformed standard SMS campaigns. The BridgeTECH presentation showed how nonprofits can incorporate RCS into their engagement strategy to boost donor responsiveness and loyalty.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">What&#8217;s Next?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">As we close the books on another successful Bridge and BridgeTECH, we&#8217;re already looking ahead to our next gathering: <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/power.nonprofitpro.com\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">NonProfit POWER<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">NonProfit PRO<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">&#8217;s signature event slated for Dec. 1 to 3 in Baltimore. There, nonprofit executives will connect with sector service providers and vendors to share solutions, explore innovation and chart the future of fundraising and marketing. Express your interest to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/power.nonprofitpro.com\/attend\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">join us at NonProfit POWER<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> to see if you&#8217;re qualified.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Did you miss the Bridge and BridgeTECH Conferences, or need a refresher? Here&#8217;s our roundup of the top fundraising and marketing lessons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":244,"featured_media":73105,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","coauthors":[93691],"class_list":["post-73327","article","type-article","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fundraiser-education","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-bridge-conference","tag-bridgetech","tag-donor-advised-funds","tag-major-gifts","tag-rcs-messaging","editorial_type-tips-and-tools"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Recap of the 2025 Bridge and BridgeTECH Conferences - NonProfit PRO<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Did you miss the Bridge and BridgeTECH Conferences, or need a refresher? Here&#039;s our roundup of the top fundraising and marketing lessons.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nonprofitpro.com\/article\/biggest-nonprofit-fundraising-and-marketing-takeaways-from-bridge-and-bridgetech-2025\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Big Takeaways from the 2025 Bridge and BridgeTECH\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Did you miss the Bridge and BridgeTECH Conferences, or need a refresher? 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