Last spring, as the world shut down, our team was faced with the challenge of opening new buildings—and helping donors whose generosity had made their construction possible feel celebrated and impactful. Over the course of a month, we invited 40 leadership campaign donors for social-distanced, household-based tours of new spaces, complete with personalized ribbon-cutting ceremonies, professional photography, to-go favors, and robust COVID-safety protocols; importantly, each tour was also led by the school president or vice president for Institutional Advancement. Two months later, and as part of “surprise and delight” boxes for our annual leadership society recognition event (that included all campaign donors), donors received a custom photo card with a handwritten note from their prospect manager.
Donors were impressed and inspired by the personalized and sustained nature of this stewardship. We received many notes—handwritten and emailed—speaking to the lasting impact of the experience; we even saw donors increase their campaign investment!
Equally notably: these tours were labor-intensive but were otherwise resource light. Our entire budget for what donors called “a wonderful and extravagant event” and a “super special, intimate tour of the spectacular facilities“ was a fraction of the cost of even a cocktail event.
From the Judges
The overall event/project was great, but nothing outside the box. The special features and follow-through execution made the project stand out. The use of less budget and seeing an increase in giving stood out as well. The organization of all the moving parts for the project, and being COVID-friendly, helped bring together a great experience for their donors.
