USA WHO
The Opportunity Network is a college and career-supporting non-profit organization. Founded to make a change, The Opportunity Network breaks down barriers to access, opportunity, and professional mobility that disproportionately affect first generation students of color.
In their direct service Fellows program, they work with students in New York City from the summer before 11th grade to the end of college, and reach 40,000+ additional students across the country through their Career Fluency® Partnerships.
Prior Fundraising Challenges
Having supported thousands of students already, the organization has ambitious plans to grow and develop which provides its own challenges. Scaling is a big challenge across fundraising as a whole as it requires a continual investment and awareness to make it a success.
The non-profit cites getting the systems right as one of their main challenges to achieve this which Givergy has supported during this first event that we have worked on.
Event Highlights
The 2023 Night of Opportunity Gala used Givergy Pledges as its fundraising tool of choice. Having run the event for a many years, the organization knew what would work and what wouldn’t. This meant a brilliant reception to the pledge drive, and the team could enter the room on the night having already raised their target amount!.
This meant the purpose shifted slightly to maintain the room’s momentum. Thankfully, the success continued, with the Givergy system and tablets allowing an easy way for money to be pledged.
Alex Christie, Senior Development Manager, commented that the system was easy to use for most donors. It offered much easier usability than some other platforms that the non-profit had experimented with and meant that a lot of stresses were removed from proceedings.
Alex also mentioned that the organization were astounded at how many people had followed up to pay their pledges which is a testament to the Givergy system. This percentage was much higher than in previous years, and the need to manage the process hands-on was removed thanks to the automation features.
TOP TIP
- Ensure that your community is at the forefront of your campaign. Make sure you shout about each donation and make people feel included as that is the best way to promote repeat donations and long-term support.
- Make sure people have different methods to donate. This event used Givergy tablets alongside mobile bidding to ensure all bases were covered.
- Likewise, ensure you include people in all stages of the process. Pre and post events are just as important as the event itself.
“Shout out to Emily who was beyond amazing through the entire process. She was honest and helped us find solutions when things didn’t work out. Everyone on the Givergy side was great and we have no complaints.”
