Give What You Can

The lion’s share of donations, about 80 percent, was generated by those meetings.

Ironically, GCFD’s strong direct-mail program — and donors’ subsequent comfort level with receiving information and making donations via mail — at times seemed to work against the capital campaign.

“It was a challenge for us to break into a new kind of relationship with our donors,” she says. “When we got face to face with people, not only were we able to ask for a gift, but it also was a chance to really talk to them about
the organization’s mission and vision.”

Also useful, Maehr says, was inviting people to visit the new facility, which her team did from day one, even when it was an unfinished site, “to show them the dream.”