Catapult Fundraising’s Capacity Building Program Yields Dramatic Results for a North Texas
Social Service Organization
The Situation: Catapult Fundraising partnered with a social service organization in North Texas on a capacity building program. The non-profit organization serves adults with intellectual and physical disabilities through day programs, enrichment activities, and group home living facilities. Catapult partnered with the organization to help raise awareness, upgrade donors, bring lapsed donors back on board, and acquire new donors.
The Solution: Catapult partnered with the organization to design a highly personalized program that included the following components
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Database review and segmentation strategy
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Development of the case for support
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Annual communications plan
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Annual governance plan
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Stakeholder study
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3-year development plan
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Major donor solicitation strategy which includes individuals, foundations and corporations
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Research profiles, specific ask amounts for each prospect, and solicitation training with the organization's development team
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Board of Directors solicitation and ask strategy
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Calendar of direct mail appeals including letter/email writing
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Email solicitation strategy
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Giving Tuesday and North Texas Giving Day solicitation strategy
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Event sponsorship strategy which includes the development of sponsorship levels, benefits, and suggested corporations and foundations to solicit
The Goals: Catapult’s capacity building programs have four broad goals:
1. To increase awareness
2. To develop existing donors
3. To engage lapsed donors
4. To attract new donors
The Result: During our partnership with the organization, we achieved the following results:
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A 93% increase in annual fundraising revenue
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285 new donors during a one-year period
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$291,635 in new annual gifts during a one-year period
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951 new donor prospects during a one-year period
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32% increase in North Texas Giving Day donations
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104% increase in event revenue
Conclusion: Through Catapult’s robust capacity building program, the organization was able to significantly increase annual fundraising revenue, increase the community’s awareness of the organization’s mission and services, and increase the overall number of donor prospects for future fundraising efforts.
Our communications plan involved the development of quarterly newsletters, communication cards, and a multi-channel digital and print marketing strategy that allowed the organization to show donors and prospective donors how their gifts directly impact the organization and the community it serves.
The 3-year development plan Catapult constructed for the organization will allow them to continue to upgrade donors over time, which will result in a pipeline for major gifts. The major donor profiles, specific ask amounts, and solicitation training for staff, board, and volunteers will allow the organization to confidently secure major gifts.
The effects of Catapult’s capacity building program will impact the organization’s development efforts for years to come.