I am Google AdWords certified. I have experience working on in-house AdWords campaigns as well as working with a vendor on comprehensive display and social media campaigns.

I am Google AdWords certified. I have experience working on in-house AdWords campaigns as well as working with a vendor on comprehensive display and social media campaigns.

My time at MSU has allowed me to enhance my skills in digital marketing, fundraising and managing.
I personalize mass email solicitations by segmenting audiences based on a variety of factors, such as giving history, graduation year, affinity and capacity. I create coordinated campaigns with my peers to produce increased engagement and donations from our alumni and friends. I continue to find creative email solicitation techniques to connect our donors to funds that are important to them.
I’m most proud of how I’ve been able to grow the email fundraising program. Before I joined the Annual Giving team, the email fundraising channel brought in about $80,000 a year. Through my innovative email campaigns, we have seen a nearly 1,000% increase in revenue!
I’ve grown the email program from only following up to direct mail pieces, to be a key component in our comprehensive campaigns as well as one-off solicitations.
My largest campaign is our Give Green Day effort. I send a three-week campaign with behavior-based segments, totaling nearly 40 versions of emails. This last year, we broke $2 million raised in one 24-hour period!
In 2019, I took over the management of an employee, which has created a digital philanthropy team at MSU. More recently, in January 2025, I added another employee to my team and was promoted to Associate Director. Mentoring and coaching my employees has been more rewarding than I expected. It is a joy to see their successes!
This past spring we migrated to a new CMS. My team and I were responsible for creating more than 40 webpages in Sitecore. We continue to manage them to achieve the best donor experience and improve conversion rates.
I run paid social and display advertising campaigns in conjunction with digital fundraising efforts, including in-house ads and working with a vendor for mass remarketing ads.
I manage our recurring giving program, including the behind the scenes donor handling as well as the public-facing web page and email promotion.
As the Assistant Director of e-Philanthropy for MSU my main goal is to generate donors and donor revenue through email. I’ve grown the email program more than 440% since I began my job. My emails perform well above my peers based on bench marking rates from M+R, Blackbaud and MailChimp. I’m exploring new ways to use email in our annual giving programs. I’m also using segmenting and testing to improve the results from emails.
Leadership Circle newsletter
We know you’re scanning this email
Give Green Day hype email
I created a weekly newsletter for GRA Benefits Group. It contained blog posts I created as well as curated news content. In the first half of 2015, we experienced phenomenal growth in engagement with the newsletter, due to our focus on A/B testing.
I have experience working with WYSIWYG and HTML editors. I’m also proficient with CSS for emails.
St. Joseph County Economic Development Corporation
• Manage reconstruction of Web site
• Update Web content
• Reorganize Web site
Through this experience I learned an excessive amount about Michigan politics. I read and edited editorial and breaking news articles for spelling and grammar errors.
I also helped upload and format articles for their website. Towards the end of my time with MIRS I was determining a newsworthy order for articles.
Bappert Automotive Services LLC
I maintain the Bappert Automotive website. I also monitor Bappert’s Facebook page and continually increase engagement by 10% every month.
Gibby’s Hometown Pub
I support this hometown restaurant with social media, engaging audiences and encouraging locals to be active patrons at the delicious pub.
GRA Benefits Group
Marketing:
PHI365:
*All content created by Bridgette O’Connor, unless otherwise noted.
I write, a lot. I enjoy the new style of marketing that is emerging – an informative venue to teach my customers about what we do.
In my role at GRA Benefits Group, I am improving the way insurance agents do business regarding privacy, security and customer service.
Michigan State University, East Lansing, Mich.
Specializations: Russian and Apparel & Textile Design