Gabriel Group

Gabriel Group Announces Janet Leigh as Director of Business Development

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Gabriel Group is proud to name Janet Leigh as its Director of Business Development.

Janet comes from the St. Louis Region Missouri Chamber of Commerce where she focused on building relationships with local corporate business leaders and CEOs to increase and retain membership. She has also worked as the Director of Development & Special Events for Nurses for Newborns. There, Janet specialized in increasing donors, executing direct mail and digital fundraising campaigns and overseeing all charity events. In addition, Janet also held multiple sales management and business development positions at Carson-Dellosa Publishing early in her career.

“We are very excited for Janet to hit the ground running with us at Gabriel Group,” CEO Dave Hawkins says.

“Janet is not only personable and ambitious, but she has the combined knowledge and experience of both the corporate and nonprofit sides of our business which I’m not sure we’ve had before. She is a truly great fit for us at GG and I have no doubt that she will be able to make a difference for both us and our clients as we continue to build relationships in the future.”

Janet graduated from St. Louis University where she played volleyball as a collegiate athlete. In 2011, she was inducted into the St. Louis University Athletic Hall of Fame for her accomplishments. When she isn’t in the office, Janet enjoys playing golf and tennis as well as spending time with her husband and two daughters.

Gabriel Group

Rolling It Out: Babies Join Workforce at Gabriel Group

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Chief Baby Officer, Ava Grace Wuertz, settling in for a hard day of work

Incidentally, it started out as a joke. “Babies at work – wouldn’t that be fun!?”

But with the ever-changing landscape of what real work-life balance truly looks like and the idea of a progressive, supportive culture always being top of mind, GG leadership decided to take a chance.

Fast forward to January of 2018, and the Gabriel Group Bring Your Baby to Work program was officially implemented company-wide.

For office associates, the concept is pretty simple: bring your baby to work until he or she turns six months old or starts to crawl (runaway infants aren’t quite on the agenda, after all). For production associates who aren’t able to bring their babies to work due to safety issues, each is offered a weekly stipend to be used towards childcare for the first six months of the child’s life.

With plenty of guidelines in place to ensure a positive experience for all, including alternative care providers, quiet spaces and plenty of open communication, the program has been met with raving reviews from new parents and co-workers alike.

“I feel so fortunate to work for a company that is supportive of me being a working mother. Being able to bring my daughter to the office with me has made the transition back to work as smooth as I can imagine the process possibly being. I have the best of both worlds; I get to come to work at a company I love, doing work I enjoy, without sacrificing precious time with my sweet baby girl.”

Kelsey Wuertz – Marketing Communications Manager

“The Bring Your Baby to Work program at Gabriel Group has been great. So far, both the mothers and babies have been very respectful of the business environment and things have run very smoothly, even with such unconventional circumstances. As a seasoned grandfather, it makes me smile every day.”

Tim Nowell – Senior Manager, Print and Estimating

“The Bring Your Baby to Work program is consistent with the core values of Gabriel Group, and as such, a very logical step for the company. We pride ourselves on providing our associates a work environment that will allow them personal and professional growth as well as a healthy work-life balance. I was skeptical at first, but it has proved to be a fun experience for everyone – especially the new mothers. We are excited about the future of the program and the hope to make sure we have a positive impact for our associates as they grow their families.”

Charlie Pitlyk – President

Still no word from Baby Ava, our pilot participant, regarding her thoughts on the matter. But the frequent smiles and growing list of new friends do in fact seem promising. Stay tuned for updates as the program and babies continue to develop …

Interested in learning more about our latest cultural initiative? Contact Anna McNulty at 314.743.5796 or anna.mcnulty@gabrielgroup.com and make sure to check out our blog post here to read on about everything else we’re doing as an outstanding place to work!

Gabriel Group

Informed Delivery: What You Need To Know and How to Take Advantage

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In case you haven’t heard yet, the United States Postal Service has recently rolled out a new opportunity to mail recipients across the country – a sneak peek of what’s in your mailbox called Informed Delivery. Informed Delivery sends those who enroll in the program daily emails that contain scanned images of pieces that are scheduled to arrive soon. In addition, Informed Delivery gives participants access to a personalized dashboard where they can view previous days’ mail, track USPS packages and even request redeliveries. Now, at the surface, it might just seem like a small digital upgrade of the same old system that has been around for centuries.  But in reality, Informed Delivery offers organizations that rely on direct mail for revenue an entirely different avenue to pursue when it comes to direct marketing.

One of the biggest advantages of Informed Delivery is that it provides an additional touchpoint to your target audience at absolutely zero cost to them or to you.  With an average open rate of 70% and widespread eligibility to nearly every ZIP code in the country, the ability to reach your donors, customers or prospects has never been easier.

What you may not be aware of is that this gives the individuals receiving your mail piece access to a landing page of your choosing when you create a digital interactive campaign through the USPS Informed Delivery platform.  Instead of a black and white scan of your original mail piece, you can create a full color replacement image that will integrate into the Informed Delivery email template and lead recipients to a call to action of your choosing.  Informed Delivery even provides data and reporting so each campaign comes with its very own set of results and key metrics (number of subscribers, email opens, click-through rates, etc.)

With a service like this readily available to you and your organization right this very moment, if you’re not actively taking advantage, you’re missing out.  Contact us for help in getting started on integrating your direct mail into a multi-channel Informed Delivery campaign today.

Gabriel Group

Charitable Gift Annuity Rates Going Up — Finally!

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It’s been six years since the American Council on Gift Annuities raised the recommended rates payable on charitable gift annuities (CGAs), but the wait is over, and the association will formally publish new, higher rates on May 15. The new rates will take effect July 1, 2018.

The council said the new rates would be .30% to .50% higher, with the largest increases applying to ages when donors typically sign up for annuities.

This is good news for organizations offering gift annuities and good news for their donors. Gabriel Group is prepared to help its nonprofit clients take full advantage of this welcome opportunity to increase the number and size of charitable annuity contracts.

For more information, please contact Renee Durnin at Gabriel Group at 314.743.5713 or renee.durnin@gabrielgroup.com. And stay tuned — we’ll pass the complete new rate schedule along when it’s announced.

Gabriel Group

What do middle children and great fundraising results have in common?

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They’re both a part of our spring newsletter!

Gabriel Group’s latest publication of The Messenger is out and ready for you to view here.

This time around, we’re covering stewardship of mid-level donors, GG’s fundraising history and one of our latest successful partnerships – a new relationship with YMCAs across the country.

Interested in learning more? Make sure and contact our Vice President of Fundraising Services, Dino Megaloudis, at 919.619.1266 or dino.megaloudis@gabrielgroup.com to find out how Gabriel Group can help your nonprofit thrive.