John Groman, 74, co-founder of Epsilon and  a pioneer in database fundraising died August 24 in Sheldon, South Carolina.

John was more than a friend. He was a feisty, driven colleague who brought new methods and new ways of viewing direct response fundraising that forever changed our sector.

Beginning in 1969—almost 50 years to the day John died – Epsilon of which John was one of four founding partners, was among the first to build custom computer applications designed specifically for nonprofit organizations. Programs and systems that enabled and drove highly personalized direct mail campaigns. Up until Epsilon’s arrival on the scene almost all nonprofit direct mail was pre-printed en masse devoid of individual segmentation or personalization.

Arguing that “direct mail fundraising” could do far better than accept the status quo of metal addressograph plates and pre-printed letters and response forms Epsilon began testing different direct mail messages to individuals based on the donor’s interests and preferences.  They quickly found that these personalized messages boosted both  response and net income.

Of course, today that all seems so obvious.  But that sure wasn’t the case 50 years ago.  Yesterday, when I reported John’s death to veteran copywriter Jerry Huntsinger  he recalled conference after conference of John speaking to packed rooms driving home the importance of moving to data-driven direct mail to oft-skeptical audiences.

It’s not an easy task to get a new approach –no matter how well-tested and proven—adopted by the nonprofit sector.  But John’s missionary zeal beat the odds and within a few years the “new” began replacing the “old.”

Beyond fighting –and succeeding—at making change, John and his partners went on to build Epsilon into a fundraising powerhouse and trained a generation of skilled practitioners many who like Tom Gaffny and Denny Meyer and Kristin McCurry continue to carry the torch and execute on John’s vision.

John was anything but easygoing.  Caring zealots driving for change seldom are.  But he was damn convincing as a direct response preacher… a great teacher… and a terrific provocateur.

Generations of direct response fundraisers owe a lot of their success and their thanks to John for a job well done and a revolutionary mission accomplished.

Roger

P.S.  For a fuller flavor and the detail of what John helped build and the feelings he inspired I recommend this obit in The NonProfit Times.

PPS.  Epsilon not only pioneered much of modern direct response fundraising; the company quickly went on to break new ground in the for-profit arena as well.  One of it’s early wins was development of the first Frequent Flyer Loyalty programs for Pan Am Airways and United Airlines.  Today the company employs more than 7,000 folks, manages and produces more than 1.2 billion pieces of mail annually, deploys more than 47 billion permission-based emails annual and manages 550 million loyalty memberships worldwide.

For a brief history of the company take a look at the Smithsonian’s Postal Museum writeup.