I absolutely love it when an organization gets creative with their donor engagement and recognition.
At Clare Housing in Minneapolis their mission is a serious one: To end AIDS in Minnesota through equitable access to housing and healthcare.
Raising awareness and fundraising dollars for a serious mission doesn’t have to be dark or solemn. When done well, with fun, play, and even some whimsy the work generates action, dollars, and awareness.
Annually the organization must raise nearly $600,000 from the community to close what I call their annual funding gap. The gap is the difference between what it costs to deliver their services and what they have raised to date. We are halfway through the year and that gap has closed by just over $100,000. So there’s work to be done.
This summer the team at Clare Housing is working hard to recruit table hosts for their October 7, 2015 annual A Place To Call Home fundraising breakfast. The event is free, with a free meal, and a goal to inspire attendees to make a financial contribution for multiple years, preferably at $1000 or more a year.
Hosting a table is a commitment. It means you find, recruit, cajole, or beg friends, colleagues, and family to join you for an inspiring hour at the event in the fall.
The key to holding a financially successful event is to have at least half the guests in the room know something about the organization BEFORE they attend the breakfast.
So, back to recruiting table hosts. This spring, the goal at Clare Housing was to identify & recruit up to 50 people who will host a table AND commit to bringing their table guests to attend a Journey Home Clare Housing tour this summer. The intention: get those table guests inspired and ready to want to make a financial contribution this fall.
Now that they have recruited nearly all the table hosts they need. The next step is getting those terrific volunteers to connect their table guests with the Clare Housing mission.
But who says yes to much of anything in the summer? Certainly not something that isn’t about beaches, vacation, and relaxation. While the team has been successful recruiting their table hosts (these people are already financial supporters), getting those same people to choose a date to bring guests into an office, in the summer, for a tour, well, that’s not as easy.
Enter the wild & crazy flamingos!
The creative staff (Debbie!) has been using flamingos to publicly recognize their fabulous table hosts. Every day somewhere in the Twin Cities, yards are getting “flocked” in an effort to remind the table host to “flock” to attend a Journey Home tour with their table guests.
[su_slider source=”media: 6774,6773,6772″ height=”700″ title=”no”] Is this working?Oh yeah.
Here’s just one of many voice mail messages being left for the staff after the table host has been “flocked:”
[su_audio url=”https://ignitedfundraising.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/ClareHousing.mp3″]
I love that this table host is inviting his guests back to his home for champagne and cupcake pool party after the tour. Talk about fun!
Here’s the serious question: How often are YOU and your team doing something that causes donors and volunteers to feel great AND take action to do more?!
You can keep a watch on the Clare Housing Facebook page for updates on where their flock has landed.
