Hockomock Area YMCA

Hockomock Area YMCA Pinpoints its Strongest Supporters with The Raiser’s Edge

The Hockomock Area YMCA serves 15 communities and over 30,000 members across 4 branches. After a period of rapid growth, Director of Development Shelley Jutras realized that its donor management system could no longer support their needs.

The Challenge:

• The organization’s one-dimensional database was a stumbling block for fundraising; the database only captured gift history.
• They were only reaching about three percent of their members through their annual campaign.
• The four branches were disconnected and there were miscommunications and overlap with donors as a result. Director of Development Shelley Jutras knew the organization enjoyed strong support, with many longtime members, so the potential to raise more money in more meaningful ways was tremendous. They just needed an efficient system to do it.

The Solution:

• Jutras and her team chose The Raiser’s Edge as their constituent relationship management system and quickly went to work segmenting their constituents based on affinity.
• The segmenting and sorting processes in The Raiser’s Edge gave them the information they needed to approach supporters in a much more informed manner. They could also now avoid having the four branches contact the same supporters.
• The Raiser’s Edge allowed the Y to tap into potential fundraising dollars that previously had been left on the table.

The Results:

• Ramped-up development: In three years, the Hockomock YMCA was able to increase their development goals by 93 percent (from $285,000 in 2004 to $550,000 in 2007).
• Focus on the constituents: The Raiser’s Edge has been able to support the tremendous growth in support and, more importantly, given staff more time to work on constituent relationships and other priority projects.
• New Endowment: As a result of the new communication approach, they implemented an Endowment program. In 2007, over 20 people put the The Hockomock Area YMCA into their estate plans.