Nonprofit Marketing for The Saint Francis Foundation Activates Donors

Getting the Word Out. Fast. And Well.

Saint Francis Ministries provides healing and hope to more than 11,000 children, adults, and families in Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Illinois, Mississippi, Texas and El Salvador. The Saint Francis Foundation helps fund and expand this growing outreach. We kicked off our support by meeting with members of the executive leadership, development, marketing and digital teams. A responsive website with a content management system (CMS) became our immediate priority, quickly followed by a video to announce the opening of Saint Francis’s new home for survivors of sex trafficking (Clover House), and support for Saint Francis’s role in the Consortium of Endowed Episcopal Parishes (CEEP) 2017 conference. Saint Francis’s leadership gave us a great gift – encouraging us to raise the bar and tell their story in powerful, new ways.

Leveraging the Power of Storytelling

During the week of the CEEP conference, traffic increased a whopping 444 percent, driven by presentations, one-on-one conversations and social media outreach. The blog highlighting the conference received more than 800 views in a single day. Online donations are exceeding expectations. After the CEEP presentations, attendees came up to the Saint Francis team with overwhelmingly positive comments. Some had tears in their eyes. A common comment: “I had no idea about the amazing work you do or your impact.” The booths, gloves and video are being used at events throughout the year, including a conference in El Salvador. The video is used on the website, in social media, at civic presentations and when meeting with donors. The gloves with the wraparound highlighting key points make a memorable leavebehind.

Making the Right First Impression

The 2017 Consortium of Endowed Episcopal Parishes Conference provided an excellent national platform for introducing Saint Francis to a select, valued audience. Saint Francis kicked off this prestigious event with a 15-minute presentation at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. We assisted Saint Francis’s CEO, president and a board member with their presentations and created a video that communicates how Saint Francis puts the gospel in action. How it works the system to make the impossible possible. When the Very Reverend Robert Nelson Smith called on the audience of priests to pray, and then get their hands dirty – he handed out gloves to reinforce the let’s-get-to-work message. The glove wraparound did double duty as a brochure, with program and contact information. Bold booth graphics further reinforced the pray-work message throughout the three-day event.

Creating a Website that Moves Hearts and Spurs Giving

We developed and launched a content-managed, responsive website in two months – in time to tap into end-of-year charitable giving. We moved directly into phase two, which included use of new fundraising software for donor management, grant and gift tracking. It went live before CEEP conference. The website – www.TheSaintFrancisFoundation.org – makes giving easy. Every page has a donate button and call to action placed on a large, can’t-miss-it banner image. Confidentiality keeps us from featuring actual children within the Saint Francis system, so we dug deep to find distinctive, compelling stock photography. Close-ups and environmental shots of people interacting and engaging in various activities convey emotion and foster connection. Language is kept simple and brief, with deeper content available as you drill down. Clear top-tier navigation is supported by clickable homepage visuals that show you how to give, volunteer and help. Another homepage feature highlights areas of greatest need. The CMS lets you quickly switch out or reprioritize highlighted programs as needed.