My Sister’s House

My Sister’s House Uses BlackbaudNow to Get a Campaign Website Up and Running and Accepting Donations in Little More than an Hour

My Sister's House is a nonprofit organization founded in 1980 that provides services, programs, and resources to empower domestic violence victims and their children to live free from abuse. The organization operates an emergency temporary shelter for up to 36 women and children who flee abusive situations in Charleston, Berkeley and Dorchester counties in South Carolina.

The Challenge:

• My Sister’s House relied on their national headquarters’ website to extend their online presence.
• When Charleston-based My Sister’s House wanted to do a campaign to urge supporters to donate five dollars within 5 days, they found that updating the national website was very complex and had trouble gaining regular access to change the site.
• They soon realized that with the length of time that was required to update the national website, they would not be able to meet their goals.

The Solution:

• My Sister’s House was recommended BlackbaudNow™ for their online campaign by a board member who was familiar with the offering.
• Within about an hour they set up a campaign page with pictures, goals, and a donation option.
• In addition to being inexpensive and easy to use, BlackbaudNow also allowed their campaign to be linked to the organization’s main page.

The Results:

• My Sister’s House drove traffic to the new site by running local PR in newspapers and online media such as Facebook® and Twitter®.
• Each board member sent a personal email to everyone they knew promoting the campaign and linking to the BlackbaudNow site.
• In just five days, My Sister’s House had raised more than $6,000. A few donations were mailed in but the majority of the money came through BlackbaudNow. Most gifts were in the $5 – $10 range.