Our History
Masterworks was founded in 1989 by Dr. Raymond Schenk as The Raymond Group. Ray was a former denominational official with The Christian and Missionary Alliance, senior executive with World Concern and VP of client services at Screen Communications. In our early years, we had the privilege of serving such organizations as the CMA denomination, World Concern and International Bible Society. Ray “retired” in 1996, although he continues to serve Masterworks on a consulting basis.
In 1992, Steve Woodworth joined as executive vice president. He’s now president of the agency. Steve was VP of marketing for World Vision, leading most of its marketing programs through the ’80s and early ’90s. During his time at World Vision, Steve was a client of 2 leading advertising agencies. He was impressed with Ray’s unique compensation model. Ray did not accept commissions and markups, feeling that these created a conflict of interest and biased the agency against cost-cutting that would reduce its compensation.
In addition, Steve brought the idea of working on a fixed-fee basis. He felt the “time and materials” approach of other agencies was also a conflict of interest. (Since most agencies make more money the more time they spend on client work, there’s little incentive to work faster and smarter.) Amazingly in the agency business, inefficiency equals more profit! To this day, we know of no other agency serving nonprofit organizations that works on fixed fees and takes no commissions or markups. Bottom line, Masterworks’ compensation model helps us be more closely aligned with our clients than any other agency.
In the early 1990s, with Masterworks’ emphasis on efficiency, we pioneered the use of short-cycle time processes and continuous process improvement in an advertising agency. Our turnaround time on projects is half the industry norm. And dozens of times we have managed a 3- or 4-day turnaround on a mailing for clients when a newsworthy event created a unique opportunity for fundraising.
During this period, Masterworks also broke new ground using noncommercial Christian radio to raise funds for nonprofits.
During the early 2000s, Masterworks began leading the way with the use of sophisticated data mining and CRM (constituent relationship management) strategies for nonprofit organizations. The result has been millions of dollars in savings for our clients through reduced mailing frequency and millions of dollars of additional revenue as donors better respond to messages and communication methods targeted to their individual preferences and relationship with the charities they support.
In 2005, Masterworks purchased TouchPoint Solutions, a leading major donor consulting firm, to integrate the vital functions of direct marketing and personal contact fundraising.
Today, Masterworks continues to lead the industry in more carefully targeted marketing for nonprofits. We’re developing proven special strategies for elderly donors, annual givers, pledge donors and many other donor subgroups. In addition to a complete array of consulting, creative and production services for nonprofits in fundraising and product marketing, we also have a separate division dedicated to innovating in the area of New Media. We’re also Certified Branding Specialists.
In the future, the cutting edge for Masterworks will be to continue refining the analytics that help our clients acquire and retain new and more valuable donors. This will allow supporters to choose how and what they want to receive, as well as the integration of online and offline communications.
Building on the legacy begun by Steve and Ray, Masterworks’ entire senior team consists of people who have led successful marketing programs for nonprofit organizations, including Food for the Hungry, World Relief, American Leprosy Mission and others. We not only have invaluable expertise and a heart for ministry, but a unique ability to look at things from the clients’ perspective. We are truly an agency of clients.
