We love what we do—but not for the reasons you might think. Yes, finding creative customizable solutions for client success gives us a chance to flex our brain muscles and think outside the box, but our biggest joy comes from watching how our assistance helps our clients thrive.
This week we’re sharing a success story from a small client making a big impact for future nurses around the country.
Bonnie A.C. Lee Fang Foundation
The Bonnie A.C. Lee Fang Foundation (BACLFF) was founded in 2002 by the daughters of Bonnie Lee Fang, the organization’s namesake. A dedicated nurse who spent her life supporting thousands of patients through some of the hardest times in their lives, Bonnie was passionate about her work.
After losing Bonnie to lung cancer, her daughters were looking for a way to honor their mother’s memory. This became the catalyst for starting the foundation—her daughters decided the best way to pay tribute to their mother was to ensure those who choose the same career path would have the support they needed to get through school.
With the shortage of nurses in this country growing every day, her daughters knew supporting empathetic, intelligent individuals and encouraging them in their nursing career was, and remains, crucial to the development of the healthcare industry. They want to help future nurses with the same ideals as their mother reach their potential and follow in Bonnie’s footsteps, providing compassionate care to those they encounter.
The Problem BACLFF Faced
Supporting the future nurses and caregivers of America is a noble goal, but it’s just that—a goal. For actionable steps to be put in place requires a plan, funding and a whole lot of work.
The biggest struggle BACLFF faced was fundraising. Nursing school, like all higher education, is expensive, and to help even one student on their path costs a pretty penny. Buy-in from a community of like-minded individuals is necessary in realizing their goal.
Additionally, they faced an exposure problem. Because there are approximately 1.5 million nonprofits in the U.S., for a small nonprofit to start from scratch means BACLFF needed to build a following. Finding new ways to get their messaging in front of potential donors was vital to the future of their mission.
Firespring Proposed Some Solutions
The features of nonprofit websites built by Firespring gave BACLFF an affordable solution which helped them find new ways to grow, especially by introducing the ability for donors to give online.
Because many of the donors who engaged with BACLFF were older, many preferred to pay by check. After creating a new website with secure payment options through Nelnet Payment Services, a few donors who used to give by check switched to the online option. In using this method, there’s less work for both the donor and the foundation when it comes to processing donations.
Additionally, the team at BACLFF had tons of ideas about how to garner attention and attract new donors, but had a hard time pinpointing where to start. After attending several webinars produced by Firespring and doing some research on their own, they were able to make an SEO plan, build their social media presence on relevant platforms, set up an email marketing campaign and begin a unique fundraising project.
BACLFF Actual Outcomes
Their use of new, engaging campaigns, online forms, Nelnet Payment Services, social media and email marketing has helped them grow their donor base by reaching new donors instead of continually asking the same people, and their results increased significantly. In April, they chose to pit their two locations against one another for a competition-style campaign, seeing which could raise the most money. The competition campaign alone brought in more than $8,000 for the organization.
Now, BACLFF uses online tools confidently, all through their main communication hub—their website—which exists with support from Firespring. Having all their tools for success in a central location means they don’t have to search the web for products and services from different companies to give them the capabilities they need. They’ve already got the support, resources and expertise needed at their fingertips by choosing Firespring. Hear about the success they’ve seen straight from them:
“In the past, our fundraising was really based on events with silent auctions and one-time monetary donations. We made around $10K last year between our golf tournament, silent auction and mailed in donations. In comparison to this year, though, we are close to $10K with just the online fundraiser and mailed-in donations, and we still have the rest of the year to continue fundraising. So I would say that this year’s campaign is much more successful (in combination with our new, massive social media presence), than it was compared to 2018.” —Robin Lee, President of BACLFF
If you’ve been looking for a solution to your nonprofit’s marketing issues, we’re here to help. Check out Firespring’s nonprofit website services.
