The Capuchin Soup Kitchen Finds Success by Stretching its Fundraising Efforts Beyond its Traditional Donor Base

By Jim Dickman

Can an 85-year-old Roman Catholic human-services organization reach out beyond its traditional donor base without compromising its strong spiritual identity?

The answer is a resounding “yes,” according to a successful series of fundraising mailings for the Capuchin Soup Kitchen that was launched this past year in greater Detroit by the Capuchin Province of St. Joseph.

The Capuchins began their Detroit ministry in 1883. Establishing a religious mission to live and work among the poor, they offer help to all in need regardless of race, sex, age, color, national origin, religious preference, handicap or income.

The idea for the Capuchin Soup Kitchen began when the Rev. Solanus Casey, then the doorkeeper at the Capuchins’ St. Bonaventure Monastery, began providing sandwiches and counseling to the many poor and hungry people who came to him for help.

Today, the nonprofit ministry serves more than 2,000 hot meals a day at its two locations, distributes more than 300,000 pounds of groceries and 30,000 articles of clothing per month to poor families, and provides emergency shelter and drug-counseling services, relying almost entirely on donations from Catholic supporters within the metropolitan area. And the demand for its services is growing every day.

For decades, the soup kitchen had opened its doors to people of all faiths and backgrounds. As the soup kitchen’s agency partner, we felt a strong case could be made to start seeking new donors not only among Catholics but among people of all faiths.

After several meetings with the Rev. Jerry Smith and brother Bill Ceislak at the soup kitchen, we began looking for non-Catholic files to test, especially those with socially aware people who had similar values as the Capuchins’ donor base and who had contributed to other community-focused, charitable organizations.

The mailings started out conservatively in order to get a good reading on the lists and to establish a control letter. Several of the selected test files were comprised of known Catholic donors or appended files that identified Catholics. Others, however, were of socially concerned donors throughout greater Detroit who shared values and a giving history with Capuchin Soup Kitchen’s donor base.

Split mailings
After initial copy was developed, there were split mailings comparing the response generated by a four-page, straight mission appeal with a 7-inch reply, with one that simply described the services offered by soup kitchens and the staggering need for them, and those that included additional incentives or information. Tests included the insertion of a prayer card to known Catholic files, which boosted response compared to a straight mission control letter, and the use of free mailing labels in both Catholic and socially active files, which proved to be less cost-efficient.

Next we tested the message. Everyone strongly felt that food and family were the universal issues. In the test letter to the socially active files, we stressed the greater benefits of the ministry a little bit more, as well as the growing rates of poverty, unemployment and homelessness in the Detroit area. But the Capuchin Soup Kitchen’s spiritual roots and identity always were prominent. The copy variation increased the number and average amount of donations, although there also was a very good response to the control package.

Now we’re testing whether a two-page letter can work as well as the four-page control letter among Catholic donors and whether a 7-inch mission-based reply will work as well as a prayer card.

To date, through validated refinements in segmentation and messaging, the Capuchin Soup Kitchen was able to bring in more than 20,000 new donors of many faiths and backgrounds the first year, generating a positive cash flow immediately during the holiday season and breaking even in six months or less with other appeals.

Jim Dickman is executive vice president of Lewis Direct.