Doctors Without Borders Digital Initiative

MEMORANDUM FOR:  Board of Directors

MEMORADUM FROM:  Digital Marketing Team, Doctors Without Borders/ Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), 333 7th Avenue, New York, NY 10001

DATE:  October 26, 2015

SUBJECT:  Doctors without Borders Digital Initiative

Background

        As the premier international medical relief organization, Doctors Without Borders’ (MSF) mission is to aid victims of armed conflict, epidemics, natural and man-made disasters, and social marginalization.  Established in the United States in 1990 to expand global fundraising, awareness, and advocacy, MSF has grown considerably over the last twenty-five years.  In 2014, MSF operated in sixty-three different countries across the globe, provided care for more than eight million patients on an outpatient basis, and admitted another five hundred thousand for inpatient care.   However, MSF is often unable to expand operations further due to several limitations.  Often, the biggest limitation centers on lack of management and staff capacity to manage complex programs.  Logistics, quality, security, and finances all play a role in limiting their potential influence around the world.  

        To help overcome these limitations, MSF employs several digital means to help raise awareness and increase fundraising.  The organization’s robust website provides visitors with detailed information about the history and principles of the organization, financial information, leadership information, and mass media initiatives.  Detailed written accounts of their global work and impact are provided, as well as audio, video, slideshows, and blogs aimed at promoting their work and educating interested donors, volunteers, and activists.  They also complement their robust website by employing social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.  Their Facebook page has more than one million followers and their Twitter following is just over half of that figure (506K).  This memorandum will review the organization’s current digital initiative and analyze the benefits, challenges, and effectiveness of the overall initiative.  

Digital Initiative

        Our team discussed the organization’s digital initiative with both their marketing director and digital marketing manager.  Both provided keen insight into current digital programs being employed.  Robert Crenshaw, the organization’s digital marketing manager, explained the branded strategy that they have been utilizing via digital means.  Traditionally, they employed a more “direct response” approach to fundraising and recruitment.  With the direct response approach, people were encouraged to act immediately to donate money or volunteer their services.  Unfortunately, the organization’s direct response campaigns varied widely in their effectiveness.  While using this direct approach, the organization discovered that sustainable sources of fundraising and activism are not a singular event, but more of a process based on cultivating relationships with donors.