Wings of Change

“We have a therapeutic pool that is 15 years old and was in great need of repairs, and we also had a waiting list of about a year long for speech-therapy services. The timing was perfect … so we tied both of those needs into this Angel of Change campaign challenge,” she says.

The affiliate first challenged staffers to give above and beyond their usual level of giving. Then through direct-mail appeals and the organization’s Web site, Kirk’s team told individual stories of kids and adults whose lives had been changed by therapeutic pool therapy and speech therapy, and individuals who were in need of those services but weren’t able to receive them because of a lack of funding. Easter Seals Southwestern Indiana mailed appeal letters to parents of children enrolled in the organization’s therapeutic preschool and child-development center, as well as pool clients. The organization also solicited major capital gifts from local corporations and individuals, and had board members, top management and existing members of its Presidents’ Council — annual donors of $1,000 or more — personally ask others to donate to the campaign at the Presidents’ Council level.