Client Success Story

From Mail to Mobile: Tupelo Children’s Mansion SMS Fundraising Triumph

How a remarkable organization transitioned from conventional to digital fundraising strategies — a strategic move aimed at achieving greater impact with fewer resources.

Background

Tupelo Children’s Mansion (TCM) is a faith-based residential group home that has been serving disadvantaged youth in Mississippi for 70 years. Relying on the support of churches, organizations, and individual donors, TCM provides housing, education, counseling, and nurturing care for nearly 100 children each year.

Challenge

Historically, TCM primarily relied on direct mail campaigns for fundraising. Recognizing the need to enhance outreach and embrace more cost-effective digital channels like SMS, Director of Administration, Angela Parker sought to diversify.

However, the limitations of their Blackbaud CRM made multichannel campaigns cumbersome.

In 2022, TCM made a strategic shift to CharityEngine, an integrated fundraising platform that streamlined the execution of multichannel campaigns. Following a seamless onboarding experience, they swiftly leveraged the new capabilities.

"CharityEngine provided us with a comprehensive fundraising platform, eliminating the need for managing multiple third-party vendors."

Angela Parker, Director of Administration | Tupelo Children’s Mansion

Solution

In Spring 2023, TCM capitalized on CharityEngine to orchestrate its inaugural SMS campaign to bolster its annual flagship event, the Fun Run Fundraiser. This much-anticipated event, held every spring, sees the active participation of children and staff in a lively campus carnival and a spirited 5K run. Participants garner sponsorship from supporters, contributing to the Fun Run's status as one of TCM's most successful fundraisers.

Beyond its financial impact, the Fun Run serves as a unique avenue for supporters to influence the lives of children while fostering community engagement directly. Complete with attractions like face painting and bouncy houses, this event not only generates vital funds but also provides the resident children with an opportunity to have fun and create enduring memories.

"It never fails! When we send out a text reminder, we get immediate responses and donations."

Angela Parker, Director of Administration | Tupelo Children’s Mansion

Results

Fun Run Donations $75,000

GivingTuesday Donations $12,000

Combining SMS outreach with email and social campaigns allowed TCM to raise over $75,000 for important campus upgrades and services. Seeing the power of SMS, Angela confidently built a comprehensive GivingTuesday initiative solely utilizing CharityEngine tools for email and texting. Her SMS and email blast raised an impressive $12,000.

Thrilled by efficient and affordable digital outreach results, TCM plans ongoing digital campaign expansion. Next year-end, they will pioneer a digital-exclusive campaign, forgoing an expensive direct mail appeal.

A significant focus for TCM over the next few years is expanding its capacity to serve more children. They intend to remodel existing dorms and build new facilities to fill all available capacity. This includes building a new gymnasium, enhancing recreation facilities, and upgrading housing units. Funds raised through campaigns like the Fun Run will go directly towards constructing and outfitting these new buildings to support more of Mississippi's youth in need.

What Other Nonprofits Can Learn

TCM's experience with diversifying its digital outreach highlights important takeaways for other nonprofits.

Reduce Campaign Costs with SMS

Embracing the power of both texting and email can significantly amplify the reach of fundraising campaigns while maintaining cost-effectiveness.

Send SMS Reminders

The strategic use of SMS reminders is a potent tool in motivating supporters to contribute incrementally, enhancing overall campaign success.

Evaluate Return on Investment (ROI)

Careful evaluation of the ROI across various channels allows nonprofits to fine-tune their marketing strategies, ensuring optimal utilization of resources for maximum impact.

Text-to-Give

A Nonprofit CRM That Does It All

With tools such as text-to-give and mass texting native to our software, CharityEngine makes it easy to create customized, multi-pronged fundraising campaigns.

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