2008: Community Partners Program

Program Goal

The Junior League of Houston rose to the challenge of transforming its fundraising operations to meet demands by its donors for innovative funding requests and to raise more money for its work in the community. The answer was the Community Partners Program, a major-gift initiative.

Program Description

In 2004-2005, the League launched a Development Research Committee to investigate how to revolutionize the fundraising process by creating a personalized and flexible major gifts program. Information was collected on fundraising trends and the major gift programs of other Leagues, and input was sought from members of the Houston League and development professionals. The League determined that donors: wanted to invest in issues and make a direct impact on the community; sought transformational giving in which they formed a relationship with the recipient organizations; and desired, eventually, to become advocates and promoters of organizations that practiced effective stewardship of their financial resources. Corporations were turning away from event support, seeking to have their contributions go directly in to the community, yet they still wanted to position their brands before League members.

The Community Partners Program was launched in 2005-2006 with a marketing campaign that included newspaper advertisements and a feature article in a local magazine, as well as extensive in-League promotion. It targeted a list of 10 donors that had either a giving history with the League or a close relationship with members. The goal was to obtain from each partner a gift of $20,000 or more, based on customized solicitation strategies and donor benefits.

Results/Outcomes

Seven donors provided support under the program in 2005-2006, each contributing at least $20,000 for a total of $155,000. Five of the seven donors were new or current contributors who had increased their gifts. The following year, $177,000 was raised from eight donors and, in 2007-2008, $195,000 from nine donors, among them three new supporters.

Evaluation

The League measured progress in several ways. It compared the goal and program budget to the amount raised, measured the differentials between new and returning partners, tracked whether partners were lost or gained each year, and calculated whether donations had increased overall and, within that, whether the partners who stayed in the program increased their pledges.

Impact

The Community Partners Program enabled the League to deepen its relationship with major donors throughout the community. The League has become more flexible in its relationship with funders, moving away from transactional fundraising to the establishment of mutually beneficial partnerships. For example, while a corporate funder that had terminated its event support provided a larger gift to one of the League's education programs, several other donors gave unrestricted gifts "in honor of" specific League projects. The League is moving forward cautiously to safeguard the consistency and adaptability of the program, and so has limited the number of partnerships in order to maintain the value to donors of being designated a "community partner." Equally significant, the program has inspired League members to give to and engage in the organization at a higher level.