The Friendship Circle

Friends Asking Friends® Technology from Blackbaud Sphere™ and e2 Creative Group Help Make First-Ever Walk4Friendship a Success

The Friendship Circle provides assistance and support to the families of children with special needs as well as individuals and families struggling with addiction, isolation, and other crises. In addition to helping those in need, the Friendship Circle empowers and enriches its network of volunteers, the majority of whom are teenagers, by enabling them to reap the vast rewards of giving of themselves.

The Challenge:

• The Detroit Chapter of the Friendship Circle needed to raise some money and decided to have a walk.
• To help make the walk a success, the organization needed an online solution to help manage and promote their first-ever Walk4Friendship which occurred in 2006.

The Solution:

• The Detroit chapter of the Friendship Circle selected Friends Asking Friends® and partner, e2 Creative Group, to quickly and easily develop an event website.
• Sphere® eMarketing™ enabled the organization to send personalized email solicitations to help spread the word and raise donations.
• e2 creative group also created customized HTML email templates with visuals, which supporters sent through the website’s Friends Asking Friends application to their personal contacts.

The Results:

• The Friendship Circle increased walk participation levels by 86 percent from 2006 to 2008.
• The organization also increased the total amount raised by 54 percent from 2006 to 2008.
• Finally, The Friendship Circle was able to increase its database of supporters by approximately 59 percent.