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Nonprofits are built to meet needs, but it takes a lot of time and effort to give supporters insight into their impact. In a sea of businesses and non-governmental organizations, those one-to-one human interactions often lose priority to the day-to-day work.
The Christian Relief Fund (CRF) believes that helping people requires helpers, which is why they’ve built a model of reaching the most vulnerable through direct relationships with supporters.
Caleb Dansby, CRF’s director of marketing, said, “Our child sponsorship is a one-to-one relationship. And we currently serve about 10,000 kids through these direct relationships.”
That means that each of those kids is connected with a sponsor. And it isn’t a one-way street. It’s a relationship that changes lives in both directions.
Caleb says, “Our messaging is plain and simple. You get to change a child's life, and you get to see all of it happen. No matter what stage of the process you’re in, you get to write to your child — you get to see how they're doing in school. You see photo updates and can send letters and photos of yourself. However you want to be involved as a donor, you have the freedom to choose.”
And no one at CRF says what the relationship needs to be. Sponsors and their kids alike have the opportunity to define this life-changing relationship:
“We’ve had some donors that traveled to meet their child,” Caleb said. “And as you would guess, it's life changing for the child, but also for the donor — being physically in the space that you were able to make such an impact in.”
CRF ad example
Digital marketing can be one-to-one too!
Caleb manages everything from print to digital. That means the website, social media accounts, newsletters, print advertising — pretty much anything and everything that exists in the world of marketing.
He explains his strategy before Feathr like this: “We were mostly doing the old school ways of marketing — lots of print media, lots of emailing, face-to-face, postcards — all the traditional stuff. Then we began expanding in social media, but we still weren’t able to capitalize on it the way we wanted.”
Because their funding model is primarily donor-based, they needed their digital marketing to be a little more like their model of change: one-to-one.
Caleb said, “Unlike our more traditional campaigns, in Feathr we were able to follow the sponsor all the way to the donation, knowing exactly how long they stayed on the page, with all the data that came with it. And we've seen a spike in how people are responding because of what we’ve learned.”
By paying attention to visitors’ actions on their website through in-depth, live reports, CRF is better able to respond and engage with sponsors, which is ultimately leading to more donations and more kids and communities changed for the better.
People help people help people
For nonprofits jumping into the digital marketing space, it can be intimidating starting the process from scratch. But because each nonprofit’s mission and audience is unique, cookie-cutter answers typically don’t cut it.
Caleb said, “I've thoroughly enjoyed working with the Feathr team because they are on top of what's happening with media standards — what's happening with ad spend — all those statistical and complex things that I'm still picking up along the way.”
At Feathr, you aren’t only getting a digital marketing platform, you’re also getting a team that wants to partner with you in your life-changing work.
“It’s been like drinking from a fire hydrant of knowledge and information with Feathr,” Caleb said. “We’re really trying to use media and modern technology to launch CRF into the new age of nonprofit marketing.”
The most important work that needs to be done in the world takes a team effort.
“It’s a weight off my back to know that we're not having to stay up to date on every marketing trend, but we’re still not missing out on the opportunity to reach across the country with our ads.”
He continues, “A lot of people have this assumption that nonprofits get donations and that’s it. But we also have to get our name out there. And that's often hard to pitch as a nonprofit. Feathr helped us resolve that question with their knowledge and experience in the nonprofit space.”
CRF ad example
From a small city in Texas to the ends of the earth
CRF may be based out of a small town in Texas. But it’s making an outsized impact around the world.
Caleb said, “I'm not just working on a computer in Texas. I'm helping somebody thousands of miles away. And that gives me a strong sense of purpose as a one-person team with a lot on my plate. And I'm glad I get to bring Feathr on board with what we're doing!”
He continues, “We had a long history of not being in the digital space. Fast forward to today, we’re jumping in with both feet, and we're excelling because of some of the things that Feathr has helped us do.”
Change doesn’t come easy. But the work you’re doing is worth the effort. If your organization expects more from its digital marketing efforts, please reach out to see if Feathr is part of that answer for you.
We love seeing nonprofits of all stripes take their marketing efforts to the next level — just like CRF. Because even if you’re sitting at a desk like me or Caleb, what you’re doing really matters!