The COVID-19 pandemic brought life to a nearly complete standstill in the spring of 2020. While many could stay at home, brave front-line workers continued their jobs healing and caring for those who needed medical attention, and keeping essential businesses open.
St. Joseph’s Hospital Foundation was contemplating how to continue fundraising and supporting the hospital network’s important work while navigating the most complex public health crisis in a century. It was, and continues to be, a unique challenge. With COVID-19 protocols in place, nearly all in-person fundraising events were cancelled or indefinitely postponed at the foundation. Like all not-for-profit organizations in the United States, St. Joseph’s Hospital Foundation found itself seeking creative alternative fundraising opportunities in the midst of a pandemic.
Are At-Home Fundraising Events the New Norm?
To the organizers’ dismay, St. Joseph’s Hospital Foundation’s annual gala — its premiere event of the year and highlight of the foundation’s fundraising calendar — was cancelled. Trillion had previously worked with the foundation on their gala branding and invitation design as well as their award-winning impact report and was hired to help reenvision the foundation’s annual gala in a new, at-home format.
The primary goal of “the gala without a gala” was to make the event feel special and achieve the fundraising milestone set by foundation leadership. Special consideration was taken to NOT simply turn the gala into an appeal letter — a tactic that many other not-for-profit organizations utilized during the pandemic, which would inevitably yield much smaller gifts, in comparison to the $12,500-per-table gala tickets. With Trillion’s help, the foundation created an invitation experience for their gala appeal.
Creative Partnerships Help Donor Experience
St. Joseph’s partnered with a winery in Napa Valley, CA to provide an in-home wine experience for the appeal supporters. By participating at the highest level, a donor could receive premium wines delivered to their home and have a customized online wine tasting at their convenience. Other donor levels included wine and the opportunity to take a virtual tour of the winery or participate in a scheduled group wine tasting prepared especially for the foundation.
The theme of the invitation was gratitude, and was designed to tie into Thanksgiving and also honor all of the St. Joseph’s Health community members who became overnight heroes in the battle against the virus.
A special keepsake prayer card was included in the invitation package with a gratitude prayer written by Sister Patricia A. Mennor at St. Joseph’s Hospital. The front of the prayer card featured a stained glass window of St. Vincent de Paul — the Patron Saint of Charity that is found in the lobby of the Paterson, NJ hospital.
The invitation was designed and produced within a matter of weeks using fast digital printing that also utilized a shiny spot UV coating to create a touch of elegance on the front cover and on the stained glass window.
Creative Thinking Yielded Huge Fundraising Results
St. Joseph’s Health Foundation was thrilled to report that the gala appeal was a tremendous success. It surpassed all fundraising goals, raising over $400,000 and will become a model for future at-home fundraising events. The foundation turned a difficult moment into an opportunity to be innovative in their delivery and outreach to their generous community.
Trillion is extraordinarily proud of the gala appeal outcome for St. Joseph’s Foundation and hopes to continue to work with the foundation on more events (both live and at-home) in the future.
Not-for-Profit Organizations Rely on their Partnership with Trillion
Not-for-profit organizations are continually challenged with fundraising and how to maximize their ROI with new endeavors. Trillion can help by thinking of creative ways to approach a challenge that may seem impossible. We are happy to walk you through some relevant case studies and make your next fundraising initiative, live or at-home, a successful one. Give us a call at 908.219.4703 or use our contact form to tell us about your challenge.
