01The challenge
Fundraising revenue was dipping, and the Foundation wasn’t alone. Nonprofits across the country have been squeezed by the same changing landscape: an aging donor file, propped up by larger gifts from a smaller and older set of donors. The topline held, but the pipeline underneath it was thinning. Left alone, that math gets worse every year.
The mandate I built the program around: an omnichannel digital approach that grows revenue and the pipeline at the same time, more new leads, more new donors, not just bigger gifts from the same names.
02The strategy
Build the plumbing while amplifying promotion, reach, and revenue. I revamped the paid digital program end to end: a multiyear roadmap, rebuilt tracking on the back end, and reporting that finally empowered decisions instead of describing the past. Lead generation campaigns joined targeted fundraising campaigns, with majorly improved messaging, creative, and campaign planning behind both.
The program architecture that emerged runs year-round:
- Always-on evergreen ads across Meta, Paid Search, Display, and CTV for awareness and year-round giving.
- Lead generation driving top-of-funnel engagement for future nurturing.
- Eight annual tentpole campaigns, from awareness months to Colorado Gives Day to Making Futures Bright, our year-end giving push.
- Recurring giving and team member giving campaigns building the sustainer base.
- Rebuilt communication flows tailored to each audience: new one-time donors, new recurring donors, leads, and repeat donors.
Around the campaigns, I rebuilt the operation itself. I onboarded a new digital agency partner. I brought the digital creative arm fully in-house, which improved quality and cut costs at the same time. I built a matching gift program that equips our fundraisers to solicit and promote matches that supercharge large-scale campaigns, strengthened the partnership with the hospital’s marketing team to extend our reach, and audited and revamped key areas of the Foundation website. The whole program runs as one matrixed operation, my team, agency partners, in-house creative, and the hospital’s marketing organization, with the digital media budget owned end to end. Underneath all of it: a digital culture of measurement and constant improvement, anchored by an automated marketing dashboard I built.
03The work
04The results
the largest online giving total in Foundation history
back-to-back record years, contributing to Foundation-wide fundraising targets
end-of-year giving campaign in Foundation history
a growing pipeline, not just bigger gifts from an aging file
The always-on presence means the Foundation is never dark, and matching gift opportunities now boost every tentpole campaign, encouraging more donors to give when their gift goes furthest.
This worked because the infrastructure came first. Donor journeys and honest measurement were built in the quiet months, so when giving season arrived, every dollar of media had a path and a proof point. Records follow plumbing.