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p:ear

Major Donor Engagement Strategy for a Youth Homelessness Nonprofit

CauseMic's facilitated workshops gave p:ear its first annual major donor engagement strategy and a simple, compelling value proposition.

The Challenge

Based in Portland, Oregon, p:ear is a transformative nonprofit that builds positive relationships with homeless youth through education, art, recreation, and job training. Their mission affirms the personal worth of young people, helping them build brighter futures despite challenging circumstances. They do so by fostering a creative community based on love, trust, and belonging, as well as providing essential support services and mentorship.

Despite the impact of its work, p:ear faced two fundraising challenges.

First, the team lacked a strategic plan for building relationships with high-net-worth individuals on Portland’s West Side, a key audience for the organization.

Second, p:ear’s value proposition had become too complicated. In trying to explain its many programs and services, the organization was making it harder for prospective major donors to understand what made p:ear different from other nonprofits working to solve homelessness in Portland.

Men and women working on crafts and talking at a table

p:ear came to CauseMic with four key questions:

  • What specific steps should we take to create the best mid- and major-donor giving experience in Portland?
  • How can we connect with major donors in a memorable way throughout the year?
  • How can we organize our small but mighty team to take an annual major donor engagement strategy from ideation to execution?
  • What are the most appealing, exclusive, credible, and clear aspects of our work that should be highlighted in our value proposition to resonate with major donors?

Our Solutions

We brought the p:ear team together to focus on two things: building a practical major donor strategy and getting much clearer about the story they needed to tell.

Remarkable Donor Journey Workshop

  • CauseMic facilitated a Remarkable Donor Journey workshop where the team identified five key touchpoints for engaging major donors throughout the year.
  • We then helped the team map the dependencies behind each touchpoint and clarify who was responsible for each task.

Value Proposition & Core Messaging Workshop

  • We led a collaborative messaging workshop to help the team identify the most important, compelling, and distinctive aspects of p:ear’s work to communicate with high-net-worth prospects.

The Results

Actionable Major Donor Engagement Strategy

  • p:ear developed its first annual major donor engagement strategy, balancing impact and effort so the team can focus its limited time and energy where it matters most.
  • The team now has a tactical, time-bound plan for executing each donor touchpoint.

 

A Clear Case for Support

  • p:ear’s value proposition now cuts through the clutter to communicate the most compelling parts of its work and differentiate the organization from others addressing youth homelessness in Portland.
  • The messaging speaks to both the head and the heart, giving donors both practical and emotional reasons to support p:ear.

CauseMic’s workshop exceeded my expectations because I’m walking away with tangible ways to move forward with my team.

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