Glendale Library, Arts & Culture Trust Implements OrangeBoy’s Philanthropy Center to Support Individual Giving Efforts
The Glendale Library, Arts & Culture recently merged its Friends and Foundation into a new 501(C) (3) organization to expand fundraising efforts that support the library’s mission.
“Libraries change lives, but we cannot do this work alone,” said Gary Shaffer, Ph.D., Director, Glendale Library, Arts & Culture. “We worked with our community to form the Trust to help the library provide services that taxes alone cannot support,” he added.
BUILDING FUNDRAISING EFFICIENCY
The Trust was formed with a dedicated group of volunteers, but it currently operates without any full-time fundraising staff. To streamline the fundraising process, the organization implemented OrangeBoy’s Philanthropy Center service offering, provided through its Savannah® Software as a Service (SaaS).
Philanthropy Center combines a powerful suite of tools to make fundraising efforts simple and affordable, regardless of the size of the library. It was built on an individual giving process that has consistently generated results for non-profit organizations for more than 20 years, with a toolset that includes:
Donor and prospect communication tools
Prospect ranking system
Online gift processing
Automated gift acknowledgment
Automated compliance features
Accounting and payment system integration
Historical donor record-keeping
Using Philanthropy Center, the Trust was easily able to create and send fundraising e-mails, accept and process credit card payments, export donor lists for direct mail appeals, and automatically send personalized thank you e-mails to donors immediately upon receiving their gift.
CREATING A WIN-WIN SITUATION
The Trust’s fall campaign was successful due to the efforts of Philanthropy Center, coupled with outside fundraising counsel to direct year-end giving efforts.
“We are thrilled with the success of our fall fundraising efforts, raising more than $20,000. Philanthropy Center helped us streamline the gift process, have direct contact with our donors, and build efficiencies in our program,” Shaffer noted.
As the Trust grows, it will be adding a full-time fundraising professional in 2022, as well as implementing a monthly communication sent through Philanthropy Center to keep donors informed about how funds are being used.
“YOU HAVE TO ASK”
OrangeBoy asked Gary for any final thoughts as libraries start or build their fundraising programs. His answer was simple, ‘You have to ask.’ He explained, “we had several donors come through with gifts in the final hours of 2021 because we sent out a reminder e-mail on December 31. I also spend time meeting with community members asking for their support. I believe passionately in our mission and want those individuals who share this passion to have the opportunity to support our efforts.”
To learn more about OrangeBoy, Savannah and Philanthropy Center, contact us at info@orangeboyinc.com