At Transcend Ideas, we had the privilege of collaborating with Forward Steps, a nonprofit organization based in Boulder, CO, that supports youth who have experienced foster care as they work toward completing their postsecondary education. Our partnership centered around a unique fundraising campaign: Climb Kilimanjaro, Elevate Scholars.
This inspiring initiative was spearheaded by Forward Steps’ Executive Director, Jennifer Falkoski, who trained and climbed to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s tallest peak, to raise funds and awareness for the Guardian Scholars Program. This program provides the resources and community support that foster youth need to overcome barriers in higher education.
To amplify the campaign’s impact, Transcend Ideas crafted a multi-faceted strategy to tell the story of Jennifer’s journey and the critical mission behind it. Our work included:
(Video) ‘Training Diaries’: We edited Reels on Instagram of behind-the-scenes footage of Jennifer’s training, showcasing her dedication.
Educational Content: Data and insights about the challenges youth in foster care face in pursuing education.
Scholar Stories: Highlighting the experiences of current and former Guardian Scholars.
Custom Brochure: Print designed to engage potential donors and sponsors.
Email Newsletters: Bringing supporters along for the climb with real-time updates and storytelling.
Custom Landing Page: A dedicated webpage to provide donors and sponsors with a clear understanding of the campaign and how to support it.
Timely Blog Updates: Regularly updated blog posts that mirrored and reinforced the narrative of the campaign.
Gala Integration: Creating a cohesive narrative for the Annual Gala, which featured a mountain theme and celebrated the scholars’ achievements.
The campaign culminated in raising over $77,000 for Forward Steps, ensuring the Guardian Scholars Program can continue to elevate youth to new heights—just as Jennifer reached the summit of Kilimanjaro.
Fundraising for nonprofits is exciting when the money is rolling in, but more often than not, it can feel like a tireless and thankless job. To aid the campaign process, we appreciate the content that Donorbox, a fundraising platform, presented in a recent webinar, helping to simplify the steps for nonprofit employees to regain joy in community work.
Send Tax Donation Receipts
The end of the year often ends in a blur of business tasking to wrap up the quarter’s work. One crucial addition to that list is remembering to send tax donation receipts. Remember a short thank you note, as well, to every donor who supported your organization via mail or email goes a very long way.
Goal Setting for Your Non-Profit
Non-profit work can feel like it pulls your attention and time in a hundred different places. Goal-setting can help determine the direction and impact you hope to make. Does your organization tune everything back to the mission statement?
Here are some goal related questions you should be asking:
What kind of impact does your organization hope to make?
Are you working on a small scale or large scale?
Do you hope to increase donor retention or start generating donations this year?
After determining the organization’s goals, the types of fundraising needed and the tactics to be used will become apparent. This can help save time in the long-run as you can make decisions clearly and efficiently regarding budgets and tasking. Outline a budget and financial items that need to be accomplished within a given timeframe and follow through with delegating tasks to volunteers or board members of your non-profit to find the success you are looking for.
Organizational Goal Planning For Non-Profit
Fundraising
There are a variety of ways that a non-profit can receive funding. Fundraising tactics include peer-to-peer, crowdfunding, events, corporate donations, and more. Always keep track of all the moving parts when running non-profit operations and managing donation money. Start with what are the steps when dealing with fundraising for a non-profit.
Donorbox has 5 key steps they call the 5 A’s of Ask: attract, ask, acknowledge, account, again.
It’s important to put effort into attracting donors, but equally crucial to continually seek donations, publicly acknowledge donors, account for funds in financial records, and consistently maintain these practices to nurture meaningful donor relationships.
In your fundraising efforts, creating fundraising goals that are SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound) helps to focus on real ways planning can make a difference with your organization. These smart goals can also be called KPIs or key performance indicators. KPI’s are quantitative measurements of donor retention, average money raised from a donor, monthly donors, new donors, etc.
Communication Touch Points With Donors
Fundraising Trends:
Maintaining a positive relationship with donors is crucial for maximizing your non-profit’s impact. Achieve this by consistently demonstrating the value your organization offers in stewardship and the lives it impacts. This will attract more individuals whose personal values align with your mission.
Some of the trends that are emerging in the non-profit fundraising world include a focus on donor trust and experience. CharityWater had a brilliant idea to use VR headsets to allow donors to be immersed in a virtual reality showing African women walking buckets of water to the river and back, showcasing what the value a monetary donation would hold.
As we delve into a new generation of digital technology, using AI for fundraising will prove to be a smart pivot in your organization strategy. Other smart trends include cashless giving, alternative currencies, and experience-based fundraising.
Community Fundraisers in Jackson Hole
Locally in the Jackson Hole region, there are two events that bring non-profit fundraising to the next level with community engagement and involvement that makes for memorable experiences.
Transcend Ideas is a proud challenger of The Tin Cup Challenge, a local philanthropic fundraising event in Teton Valley, Idaho. Join us on July 20, 2024 to participate in the local fun run and donate to a favorite community non-profit!
The Community Foundation of Teton Valley works to elevate lives through the power of generosity by championing the nonprofit sector, empowering donors, promoting a culture of giving, and serving as a catalyst in addressing critical community needs. The Tin Cup Challenge is a proud sponsor of community programming by sponsoring matching donations from local businesses, giving grant awards, leadership training, and more.
We also proudly support Old Bill’s Fun Run, another community and philanthropic race event in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Old Bill’s is one of the most successful fundraisers in the nation. The race brings the community of Jackson together over a shared goal of altruism. Kindness for others and community and a singular drive to make a difference. Since Old Bill’s has started, it has brought more than $256 million dollars to Jackson.
We hope you’ll join us on September 7, 2024 as we’ll be out supporting this event that celebrates the local nonprofits that support our community!
Thank you for reading our summary of the great content put out by Donorbox! Can Transcend Ideas support your work to increase your non-profit fundraising and strategy? We’d love to support your work and enhance your digital marketing strategy.
Watch the Donorbox webinar in full here:
Transcend Ideas provides marketing and branding for businesses and nonprofits nationwide. Located in the Tetons in Jackson, WY / Victor, ID area.
Heather Rodgers is the newest member to the Transcend Ideas team! She will offer support with her design and copywriting skills. She shares a little… Read more: Meet Heather Rodgers
The internet evolves at lightning speed. ⚡️
Trends from a decade ago are long forgotten, and even last year's sensations have faded. With countless accounts competing for attention across numerous platforms, standing out in this saturated digital landscape demands a more strategic approach than ever before.
Fonts tell us a lot about a brand, and there is much to discuss about them. We like to think that fonts have their own personalities, and they make a big difference in how consumers communicate with a brand. We could go on for a while, but we’ll try not to get too nerdy. We’re font fanatics here at Transcend Ideas.
Fundraising for non-profits is exciting when the money is rolling in. More often than not, it can feel like a tireless and thankless job. We love the content that Donorbox, a fundraising platform, put together in a recent webinar to help simplify the steps for non-profit employees to bring back the joy in community work.
The most effective marketing campaign is one that builds awareness on issues. They can evoke a thought, a pause, a consideration, an emotion, an action, a changed behavior, and at times all of those things over time. Learn how you can start building awareness with marketing.
