One of the best things you can say to a donor is Thank You for Your Gift. At the Building for Kids we had an art studio where kids would paint and create magnificent works of art. Sadly sometimes this art was left behind, so instead of throwing it away, I took that artwork and cut them down and affixed them to our donor thank you letters. These fun envelopes allowed the donor to wonder what arrived in the mail. I couldn't help but be inspired by the children who came into our museum and I hoped I brought a smile to our donors who gave so freely of their time, talents and most importantly the funds needed to support our programs.
When I took over the development for the Schauer Center I realized we had a number of duplicating benefits for our Sponsors, Members and Donors. We were giving back 40% of the gift we were given to support our programs back to the donors. After some hard conversations and some focus groups we determined the best path forward to was to be better stewards of the gifts given to us and make sure our communities had wonderful access to art programs and theatre.
I developed a new twist on the traditional fundraising thermometer. At the Schauer Arts Center we had a resident Art Guild within the organization. I purchased 4x6 art boards and they had their artists take them home and create unique pieces of art which became benchmarks of how much funds we raised. Our goal was $100,000. We used the photos on social media to help promote the campaign. We then took down all the artwork and created an auction which also raised additional funds. One of my favorite campaigns.
Gardens of the Fox Cities had a large job to fundraise to help maintain the gardens. Previously they didn't have a partnership program to sponsor any of the gardens. I designed and created a piece the board members and executive director could use while they were out and about.
Annual Report I put together when I worked for the UW Extension office.
When I worked as a Development Director for the Building For Kids it was important to have materials that could summarize our mission and provide information on ways businesses and community members could choose to support the museum and the programs that best served our youth.
I developed the Building for Kids Partnership Program to kickstart our development efforts after long hiatus. One of our largest goals was to get all of our exhibits sponsored and fixed. I am to say we reinvigorated the museum and our exhibit sponsors dedication to the promoting the power of play.
