Doctors Without Borders USA

Achieving Record-Breaking Revenue + Growth by Inspiring Experimentation + Collaboration
Picture of Shannon Miller

Shannon Miller

Founder + Chief Collaboration Officer

Directed the digital fundraising efforts for Doctors Without Borders/ Médecins Sans Frontières USA (MSF-USA) as their Senior Digital Marketing Manager. Designed and executed an audience-centric digital strategy for the Nobel Peace Prize-winning organization and its renowned medical humanitarian mission, across paid advertising, email, SMS, peer-to-peer, streaming/eSports, marketing automations, and doctorswithoutborders.org. 

By focusing on targeting target audiences where they are with the right message at the right time and right place (and right ask) for them, the digital fundraising program at MSF-USA ultimately achieved a 194% year-over-year revenue increase in support of its medical humanitarian work, including an astounding 420% surge in email revenue and an impressive 2,007% boost from social media advertising.

Successfully cultivating an innovative and collaborative environment across the organization’s digital fundraising channels during emergencies such as 2020’s Beirut Explosion and COVID-19 pandemic – the latter shattering engagement records set by the 2010 Haitian Earthquake – MSF-USA’s yearly revenue targets were exceeded by an impressive 426%, with remarkable increases of 257% and 43% in one-time and recurring donor acquisition, respectively. Saved the organization millions of dollars in fees and development costs while modernizing and upgrading the organization’s digital fundraising ecosystem to facilitate speed to market, audience customization, and conversion rate optimization (CRO). 

Highlights include:

  • Directing noteworthy year-over-year revenue increases in display (322%), email (120%), paid search (26%) and social media (734%), peer-to-peer (21%), SMS (1,661%), and organic website visits (59%) while improving engagement metrics across channels and reversing five years of declining website traffic
  • Driving a significant 153% rise in organic website visits and a 21% increase in digital donor retention 
  • Collaborating with Programs and Communications to design a strategy to engage MSF-USA’s donors in the organization’s policy and advocacy work
  • Initiating content strategies for emerging platforms like TikTok and introducing innovative engagement strategies for Facebook, one of which was highlighted as a model case study in Facebook Fundraising by the platform.
  • Co-founding the JEDI Taskforce, an anti-racism and DEI working group focused on applying a decolonial lens to MSF-USA’s marketing materials and properly reflecting the diversity of its staff
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