{"id":4453,"date":"2014-04-14T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-04-14T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.causevox.com\/?p=4453"},"modified":"2024-05-08T17:50:12","modified_gmt":"2024-05-08T17:50:12","slug":"project-renewal-giving-tuesday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.causevox.com\/blog\/project-renewal-giving-tuesday\/","title":{"rendered":"Project Renewal Raises Over $77,000 on Giving Tuesday"},"content":{"rendered":"

After the excess of Thanksgiving\u2014the food, the travel, and perhaps the shopping\u2014over a dozen people gave generously to <\/span>Project Renewal<\/a>. With more than $77,000 raised, Project Renewal will be able to feed and shelter and empower homeless men and women out of poverty.<\/span><\/p>\n

How was this nonprofit able to break through the noise of a festive yet busy holiday season?<\/p>\n

Their success stemmed from their reaching outside of their comfort zone when it comes to development & fundraising.<\/p>\n

About Project Renewal<\/h2>\n

Nonprofits working in human services traditionally rely on grant writing to fund their causes; Project Renewal is no exception, receiving the majority its funding from public sources, foundations, and corporate grants. There is little precedent for venturing into new territory it when comes to marketing.<\/p>\n

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\u201cSome nonprofits have simple missions,\u201d said Joanna Stanberry, Project Renewal\u2019s Director of Communications. And by \u201csimple,\u201d she means straightforward; for example, charity: water\u2019s mission is to bring \u201csafe and clean drinking water to people developing nations.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Project Renewal\u2019s mission is not quite as straight forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cProject Renewal has a complex message,\u201d said Joanna. It takes more than just a meal and a bed to empower homeless men and women who also struggle with addiction and mental illness to breaking the cycle of poverty. This kind of freedom is hard won and requires holistic commitment \u2013 health care, shelter, and job training & placement.<\/p>\n

Because of the high ethical standards that nonprofits are held to, these organizations tend to \u201cadd fifty asterisks\u201d when sharing their story, said Joanna. But when it comes to marketing, modesty is not always the best policy.<\/p>\n

Diving into peer-to-peer fundraising<\/h2>\n

Nonprofits tend to stick to what\u2019s \u201ctried & true\u201d when it comes to fundraising, and peer-to-peer fundraising<\/a> is still relatively new territory.<\/p>\n

Joanna came on board with Project Renewal with extensive experience in both the nonprofit and the tech startup spheres, so she saw from both vantage points.<\/p>\n

\u201cHuman service agencies aren\u2019t used to fundraising most income from individual donations,\u201d said Joanna, calling Project Renewal\u2019s foray into peer-to-peer fundraising<\/a> \u201ca major first culture step to think outside the box.\u201d<\/p>\n

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How did CauseVox connect with Project Renewal\u2019s first foray into peer-to-peer fundraising?<\/p>\n

Joanna likened the initial steps of the journey to \u201ca rabbit trail.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTwo years ago, I was researching using a certain DSLR [camera] for nonprofit marketing,\u201d she said. \u201cI was trying to pitch why the organization should buy the DSLR to the CEO.\u201d<\/p>\n

In her research, she came across some content from CauseVox. As Project Renewal was moving forward with their first real online campaign, she researched fundraising platforms and kept revisiting CauseVox.<\/p>\n

Using CauseVox for peer-to-peer fundraising<\/span><\/h2>\n

\"project-renewal-campaign-page\"<\/p>\n

Joanna has a \u201cpassion for clean technology\u201d and \u201celegant solutions,\u201d which she found in CauseVox. Though it\u2019s a platform to serve nonprofits, CauseVox was designed to \u201ca different standard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Customization and domain pointing<\/a> were must-haves in a fundraising platform for Joanna.<\/p>\n

\u201cOther platforms offered these features at a premium, for an extra charge,\u201d she said. With CauseVox, these features were built into the basic version.<\/p>\n

And with a platform and a push of support from the Board of Trustees, Project Renewal was ready to embark on their first official peer-to-peer fundraising campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to be really awesome at connecting, at being social,\u201d said Joanna about online fundraising.<\/p>\n

To prepare them, a friend of Project Renewal gathered several New York-based nonprofit organizations to prepare them by assigning meetings and homework. Admittedly, nonprofits are experts in serving people, but less so when it comes to promoting themselves.<\/p>\n

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Planning and preparing for Giving Tuesday began in early October, and with Giving Tuesday falling on December 2, 2013, Project Renewal had a narrow window of time.<\/p>\n

So how did they make the most of it?<\/p>\n