Problem:
Westminster launched a $40 million campaign to pay off their new campus construction debt. The school needed to attract new donors and retain current donors to raise $5 million in cash within four months to meet the next milestone.
Solution:
I created a microsite for donors to give electronically and to provide information about the campaign and the school. It provided users a simple way to learn about the campaign and see concrete examples of what their money would be supporting. This site provided a platform for teachers, alumni, students, and our development team to get people excited about supporting the school, and it provided a toolbox of resources for the development team when they met with potential donors.
Additionally, I designed a print brochure with interchangeable pieces. This allowed information to be updated or personalized in a cost effective way. This was an easy take away to point donors and potential donors to the site.
Process:
I met with the development team to gather feedback and questions from donors. What are they interested in learning? What are they confused by? What is topics would they like to see get more exposure? We also researched what types of information users most frequented on our current website and what they interacted with on social media.
After brainstorming ideas about how we could tell a story and answer questions, our team decided to create a microsite for the campaign.
Our team brainstormed and recommended important content for potential and current donors. We consulted with the Director of Development for feedback on our decisions and worked to create a production schedule. We created navigation and began writing content. We managed the scheduling of writers, editing, choosing photos, and creating posts.
After processing the information, we decided that the main content would be written by the Director of Development, as well as one blog post per week. We came up with a schedule of blog posts and writers for all other days, including teachers and alumni. At the start, we devoted one day per week to our Athletic Director because of the popularity of our athletic webpage, likability of the director, and his large following on Twitter.
We mind-mapped out the flow of the website and I created ideations for the design of the homepage, subpage, and giving form. I discussed the options with the Director of Development and made edits per his direction.
I researched other donation websites' design and content for inspiration and to find best practices for our giving page. I studied websites that were blog based and included a high volume of photos and videos before creating ideations for the page layouts.
Once the protoype was complete, I project managed the website to completion with a web developer on a Wordpress platform.
We asked a specific group of donors and non-donors to test the website. I created and emailed a survey to them for feedback so we could adjust as needed.
There weren’t many changes, so we launched the website and shared it on social media and email.
An example of the proto-type. The website is currently off-line because the campaign came to an end.
I wanted to pair a printed piece with the website that could be handed out as a take-away at meetings or mailed as a follow-up. I needed to create something that would fit in a #10 envelope so that it would be cost effective to mail. We wanted to be able to update donors so that community had an accurate picture of where we were in the campaign.
After researching different types of mailers, I decided that even though it would be more expensive at the start, an item with pockets would allow us to change out information easily and would be more cost effective in the long run.
The Director of Development wanted to show current data on the amounts given, pledged, and needed. I created a graphic with the information given to show the number visually.
I decided to also highlight alumni on the cover to pair with stories on the website.
This was mailed to all donors and given to them when someone from our development team met with them as a takeaway.
After researching different types of mailers, I decided that even though it would be more expensive at the start, an item with pockets would allow us to change out information easily and would be more cost effective in the long run.
The Director of Development wanted to show current data on the amounts given, pledged, and needed. I created a graphic with the information given to show the number visually.
I decided to also highlight alumni on the cover to pair with stories on the website.
This was mailed to all donors and given to them when someone from our development team met with them as a takeaway.
Outcome:
The campaign was successful and raised over $5 million.
