Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown
Annual Fundraising Grows 500% over 3 Years
After implementing a comprehensive plan for donor development
Catholic Charities wanted to grow and establish themselves more prominently, but they lacked financial support as well as donor engagement to support the organization’s mission. That’s why Jean enlisted the help of Affinity Connection to craft and execute a strategic donor development plan.
Starting with an integrated marketing audit, we identified the organization’s stakeholder groups and conducted extensive interviews and surveys. Armed with this information, we created an assertive plan for new donor acquisition that combined strategically growing the database as well as committing to a frequent and consistent storytelling initiative.
As a result of sharing Catholic Charities’ positive impact on the community with donors has created a strong culture of giving.
Within three years, the number of unique donors increased from around 250 to more than 1,300, and annual dollars raised grew from $40,000 to nearly $200,000.
“We worked with Affinity Connection was to educate people about our mission: who we help, how we help, and that 100% of donations go to a person in need. They gave us a comprehensive plan for development and we’ve stuck to it.
Mailings, special events, emails, giving programs, an online presence—an overall education program about where our money goes and why it makes a difference. Thanks to our diverse development plan we’ve seen a significant increase in both financial support and donor engagement.”
-Jean Johnstone, Executive Director
“Part of the reason we worked with Affinity Connection was because we didn’t have the talent or manpower here to implement this comprehensive program.
With Affinity Connection everything is managed by their team, so even though I approve everything, all I have to do is share ideas.”
-Jean Johnstone, Executive Director
What We Did:
Integrated marketing audit
Expanded and leveraged the database
Frequent and consistent storytelling
Website development
Event support
Donation processing
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