Capital Area Food Bank (CAFB) supports the greater Washington D.C. region, including Virginia and Maryland. Each year, Capital Area sources and distributes more than 50 million meals. Every dollar donated provides two meals for those in need. 

Run Tests With Your Donors 

Over the past year, food prices have continued to climb, along with the number of people going hungry due to the lingering effects of the pandemic, including high inflation.

CAFB’s strategy is to relate to donors on a human level to inspire greater levels of giving. Their philosophy is that we’re all experiencing rising food costs, so it’s our joint responsibility to support each other through these challenging times. 

To optimize their giving experience for maximum donation potential, CAFB conducted a formal A/B test to identify impactful tweaks they can make to their donation site to raise more.

Testing Increased Donor Covered Fees

CAFB found that, on average, the organization’s food costs increased by 13%. In the fall of 2022, they tested two variations of an email campaign to see which inspired more people to cover a larger percentage of processing fees to help offset the costs of inflation. Both emails linked to a Classy donation website, which typically includes a checkbox to cover the 3% processing fees. For this test, that checkbox was raised to 13%.

One email detailed the story of a client, talking about the food accessibility challenges she was facing, and the other mentioned the current inflation struggles alongside the client’s story.

The original email, which omitted mention of inflation, had a higher click-through rate, conversion rate, and average gift size. Hearing about this beneficiary’s personal experience inspired action, whereas general dialogue about inflation seemed to distract donors from the powerful story.   

Testing Covered Fees on a Larger Scale

After the success of their email test, the CAFB team decided to run a similar test on their homepage. For one month, 50% of donors were shown the 13% covered fees option on the donation page, while the other 50% of donors were shown the typical 3%. 

The only change to the donation page was the covered fees, and the results were that the donation page with 13% covered fees had a higher conversion rate and higher average gift size. Since then, they’ve stuck with 13% covered fees.

Providing the Space to Share and Test Ideas 

One conclusion as to why the 13% covered fee tests were so successful could be attributed to the fact that inflation affects everyone, so it was easy to appeal to individuals and make that connection to their own personal lives. This test proves that if you’re willing to change small elements, they can unlock new avenues to raise more with less effort than creating an entirely new fundraising strategy. 

Right now, the CAFB team is deciding what’s next for their organization. Whether it’s inflation, the political climate, or natural disasters – all things that directly affect those that CAFB serves – testing and coming up with creative ideas is imperative to get donors’ attention and make meaningful connections.

The Avera Foundation provides meaningful opportunities to support health and healing in the upper Midwest, currently serving the states of South Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota, and Nebraska. Whether donor contributions come in the form of monetary gifts, supplies, or volunteer hours, the Avera Foundation uses them to their fullest to extend, enhance, and enrich the lives of those in their communities.

The Power of an Integrated Tech Stack

Ahead of the 2022 giving season, the Avera Foundation knew certain components of their tech stack weren’t cutting it if they wanted to reach their ambitious fundraising goals. 

Their top priority was to find a fundraising platform that allowed them to remain closely connected with supporters between events and campaigns and keep in steady contact with their community throughout the rest of the year. Classy made it easy for supporters to give, and Omatic, a tool that helps nonprofits solve integration and data import challenges, made it easy to steward donors afterward. Together, the two solutions rounded out their robust tech stack in a way they were previously lacking. 

The Biggest Giving Tuesday Yet

Giving Tuesday is a pivotal day for nonprofit fundraising. To ensure they made the most of it, Avera created a dedicated Giving Tuesday 2022 fundraising page on Classy, customized to reflect their specific goals and unique audience. With only a few months on the platform under their belts, the Avera team was excited to launch their first major Classy campaign.

Avera built a Classy crowdfunding website to amplify its “A Gift That Grows” campaign theme, connecting donations with local women’s and children’s hospitals. Their emphasis on personal storytelling helped donors establish a deeper connection to the cause, inspiring new and existing supporters to contribute one-time and recurring gifts.

Post-Giving Tuesday, Omatic made it easy for Avera to follow up with donors through segmented communications based on individual donor behavior.

Learnings From Giving Tuesday

Avera is constantly iterating, taking the learnings from previous campaigns and implementing them into upcoming initiatives. From their Giving Tuesday campaign, the Avera team learned it’s important to:

• Know your story and tell it on every page
• Get colorful and show off your branding
• Hold onto tradition but don’t be afraid to step outside the box 
• Hyper engage your donors

Avera also learned how critical it is to keep the donation process simple. What used to require nearly 10 clicks to complete a donation now only takes two or three with Classy. Donors feel like their time is being greatly valued and are less likely to drop off before completing a donation. 

Applying Learnings to an Annual Event

The Avera team then took their Giving Tuesday learnings and applied them to their biggest event of the year, Race Against Cancer. Utilizing Classy’s fundraising event software, supporters could register for the race directly or cover the registration fee by fundraising on the organization’s behalf. The results far surpassed expectations and have set a new standard for their events.

Following the event, Avera has the tools to more easily connect and steward supporters, thanks to Classy and Omatic. The success of the Race Against Cancer event is clear evidence of how great tech can help you raise more to do more.

Starlight Children’s Foundation provides colorful hospital gowns, toys, video games, and gaming stations to seriously ill children in hospitals across the country. 

Who Ya Gonna Call? The LA Ghostbusters!

For many hospitalized children, one of the most stressful experiences is transitioning from their personal clothes into a hospital gown. That’s why Starlight Hospital Gowns, designed with recognizable characters, help ease anxieties, provide comfort, and ultimately bring a sense of happiness! 

Studies show that happiness can help hospitalized patients recover faster and with fewer complications. Starlight Children’s Foundation and the Los Angeles Ghostbusters, a cosplay group that provides fans with an authentic Ghostbusters experience, teamed up to deliver happiness to support the recovery of hospitalized children.  

The two organizations connected when the LA Ghostbusters decided they wanted to rally behind a good cause to do something more meaningful. Starting out with small acts of fundraising on behalf of the nonprofit, like DipJars at conventions and an event at a Star Wars-themed bar that raised $12,000, the Ghostbusters were eager to do more.

Starlight has established corporate partnerships in the entertainment industry, but they had never worked with Sony. When they reached out to the entertainment giant with the idea to create Ghostbusters-themed hospital gowns, the film studio was all for it. 

Don’t Sleep on Peer-to-Peer Fundraising

The LA Ghostbusters worked with Starlight to activate Classy’s peer-to-peer fundraising platform and recruited over 20 Ghostbusters groups around the country (and one in Italy!) to reach a wider network of donors. 

Tapping into niche fandom communities through podcasts, online forums, conventions, and more, the Ghostbusters groups started fundraising in the fall of 2022. By March 2023, they had reached their goal of raising $40,000. Enough to fund 1,000 Ghostbusters-themed hospital gowns and one gaming station.

In June 2023, the Ghostbusters-themed hospital gowns were delivered to many hospitals, including some that care for medically underserved and vulnerable patients and in cities where Ghostbusters groups fundraised. This ensured groups saw the local impact of their hard work.

Year-Round Starlight Advocates 

Starlight is planning a multi-pronged grassroots fundraising strategy, with the Ghostbusters and other fan groups playing a key role. The plan is to incorporate these groups as permanent players in their peer-to-peer fundraising efforts.

With year-end on the horizon, Starlight is focused on optimizing its donation and fundraising processes. They’re working on refreshing their website and will simplify the giving process for everyone involved with embedded donation forms. 

Coming soon, Classy’s new customizable campaign builder, Campaign Studio, will allow Starlight to tell their story and those of their fundraisers with less stress and more impactful results.

In the U.S., 1 in 50 people are living with paralysis. The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation was founded as the couple struggled to find resources to help their family find new normalcy after Christopher’s spinal cord injury. The National Paralysis Resource Center focuses on the day-to-day challenges of living an independent and fulfilling life.

Checking Out the Competition

In 2019, the Reeve Foundation decided to transition away from Classy to take a chance on another solution. Fast-forward to 2021, and they realized the solution had over-promised and under-delivered. Understanding Classy’s potential, the Reeve Foundation was open to learning how the platform had evolved its product offerings since they left. 

It didn’t take long for the Reeve Foundation to recognize Classy’s increased pace of innovation across the board, specifically in Facebook fundraising and its events software, Classy Live. These developments, and those slated on the product roadmap, inspired their organization to rejoin the Classy community.

Offering Multiple Ways to Give

The Reeve Foundation prioritizes ease of transacting by offering multiple payment options like credit cards, ACH, and PayPal. With embedded donation forms, the appeals are simple, with clean layouts, concise text, and minimal required questions when checking out.

Of Classy’s many campaign types, the Reeve Foundation uses every single one. Depending on the event or fundraising opportunity, just having the options available makes planning and publishing a new campaign idea a breeze. Some of the campaign types that the Reeve Foundation uses include:

• Donation websites
• Crowdfunding websites
• Online peer-to-peer fundraising 
• Nonprofit event registration

According to Classy’s 2023 State of Modern Philanthropy report, supporters who engage with multiple campaign types are 4x more valuable than supporters who participate in a single campaign. 

Expanding Events and Campaign Capabilities

Now that the Reeve Foundation is back on Classy, they are excited about the new, innovative features being launched. Coming up, Classy is releasing a campaign builder called Campaign Studio, which will make creating visually appealing campaigns even faster and easier.

Events are still a main priority for the Reeve Foundation, and they plan to expand existing events across the country. By utilizing Classy Live, the team will be able to reach more donors via in-person, hybrid, and virtual events.

Feed My Starving Children fights the overwhelming amount of malnutrition and undernutrition people are experiencing worldwide. The nonprofit transforms these critical issues into tangible stories to inspire a connection with the cause. They introduce the story of a real child to donors, reminding them one gift can feed a child. 

Facilitating Multiple Ways to Give

With Classy’s comprehensive fundraising suite, which offers multiple ways to give, customizable campaigns, segmented email appeals, and diversified payment options, Feed My Starving Children is able to provide a great donor experience grounded in storytelling. By customizing the experience to align with donors’ interests, providing clear impact statements, and presenting a seamless donation process, Feed My Starving Children has attracted and maintained a loyal donor base.

Classy’s embedded donation forms have increased conversion rates for Feed My Starving Children to 43% (nearly 3x the industry average) by removing friction from the donor experience. The donation form appears alongside a moving beneficiary story, urging quick action.

Planning for the Next 365 Days With Classy in Mind

In the past year, Feed My Starving Children has raised $15.4M on Classy. And there’s no stopping there. The nonprofit is planning its upcoming fundraising galas on Classy Live, Classy’s event software, and will continue to use nearly every Classy feature to provide a unique and personalized experience for its donors.

Faith In Practice is a medical nonprofit that services the poor and indigenous in Guatemala. The organization works in close partnership with local Guatemalan hospitals and institutions and sends around 40 teams of surgeons and physicians to Guatemala per year. 

The team hands out medicine and vitamins, conducts surgery assessments, and performs surgeries based on individual needs. They provide care to more than 30,000 Guatemalans annually at a level that is not typically available or affordable

Simplified Tools to Power Elevated Fundraising 

Faith In Practice has been using Classy’s fundraising software since 2015. What first drew them in was the peer-to-peer fundraising capabilities. Since then, a partnership has blossomed between the organizations.

Classy is not only easy for the Faith In Practice team to use but also for every volunteer. For each trip to Guatemala, volunteers pay a trip fee that covers their flights, accommodations, and meals. They’re also asked to set up a Classy peer-to-peer fundraising page and to share their mission pages on Facebook.

Each individual rallies their network to donate with a goal of raising $1,500—a huge source of income for the nonprofit.

The Annual Gala Goes Hybrid, Thanks to Classy Live

Every year, Faith In Practice puts on a gala to fundraise and celebrate the achievements of its organization and volunteers. The gala, which is held near Faith In Practice’s headquarters in Houston, TX, gives attendees an opportunity to connect with doctors, volunteers, and friends while supporting a cause close to their hearts.

In 2022, the Faith In Practice gala was hosted through a hybrid environment thanks to Classy’s event software, Classy Live. This new approach allowed supporters who were unable to travel and attend in person to participate despite geographic barriers. The team utilized Classy Live’s features, including:

• Ticketing page where attendees could purchase virtual tickets or tables 
• Messaging and reminders to attendees leading up to the event
• Silent auction where attendees could bid on or buy the available items, like trips and local items from Guatemala
• Text-to-donate which allowed supporters to text a designated keyword, such as “DONATE,” to a provided phone number, triggering an automatic response inviting the supporter to donate through a provided donation form

The gala had 316 in-person attendees and 62 virtual attendees. The fundraising goal for the gala was $800,000, and in the end, the team raised $946,000!

According to the 2023 State of Modern Philanthropy report, the average Classy Live revenue per donor over the course of a year is $1,258. Faith in Practice is thrilled about the potential to steward its event attendees and bring that revenue to fruition. 

Bigger Fundraising Goals Means More Guatemalans Served

 The Faith In Practice team sets its sights even higher for its 2023 gala. They’re focusing on growing the number of virtual attendees by creating pocket watch parties in locations outside of Texas. 

They plan to utilize Classy’s credit card readers at the next gala to streamline the donation process. Plus, Classy Live’s upcoming feature—allowing event admins to make table assignments ahead of the event—will help dramatically reduce day-of stress for the Faith in Practice staff. 

Peloton4Parkinson’s started as a tribute to the founder’s mother, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease after leading a healthy and active life. Founder, Eric Tostrud, transformed the frustration and anger he felt into a movement, raising funds for the Michael J. Fox Foundation to find a cure for the disease.

A Fundraising Tool to Suit Its Growing Needs

For the past eight years, Peloton4Parkinson’s has hosted an annual ride where supporters can join in person, biking a half day or a full day from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., or virtually where the ride is live-streamed.

The event started in 2016 in the founder’s garage as a spin fundraiser with a few friends and has consistently outgrown its space each year since. After 2022’s event, the Peloton4Parkinson’s team realized they needed a more sophisticated tool to facilitate the event and year-round fundraising efforts. That’s when they found Classy.

Peloton4Parkinson’s utilized Classy Live, Classy’s events software, to scale its hybrid event. 

• Registration for the in-person and virtual ride
• Live streaming for virtual attendees
• Fundraising thermometer for supporters to see how much money has been raised at any given time during the event
• A silent auction where supporters can bid in real-time on almost 100 items

The 2023 Ride for Peloton4Parkinson’s raised 14.4% above its goal from 890 unique donors. Classy’s 2023 State of Modern Philanthropy report showed 91% of event attendees are more likely to take further action with a nonprofit after a positive event experience. With Classy Live paving the way for seamless event involvement, Peleton4Parkinson’s is hopeful its supporters will continue to ride and raise until there’s a cure for Parkinson’s disease.

Founded in Colorado in 1987, Project C.U.R.E. has become one of the world’s largest distributors of donated medical supplies, equipment, and services to doctors and nurses serving the sick and dying in more than 135 countries.

A Comprehensive Fundraising Approach

Project C.U.R.E. joined the Classy community less than a year ago and has already hit the ground running. They’ve wasted no time implementing the various campaign types that Classy offers, including:

• Donation pages for a standalone cause or their monthly donor program, Club C.U.R.E.
• Ticketed events for pay-to-play events, where supporters can register, either as an individual, part of a team, or as a spectator
• Crowdfunding for enabling corporate partners to raise funds on their behalf
• Peer-to-peer for their worldwide event where individuals can raise money through their networks
• Galas, where individuals or groups can purchase tables, participate in a live or silent auction, and more!

Project C.U.R.E. recently implemented embedded donation forms across its website, including the homepage. These streamlined forms help simplify the checkout process and, as a result, commonly see 2x the industry standard conversion rate.

Project C.U.R.E. utilizes multiple campaign types to ensure they’re catering to the various giving experiences today’s donors prefer. This also helps inspire donors to expand the breadth of their engagement with the cause by participating in multiple campaigns. These increased levels of involvement are critical; Classy’s State of Modern Philanthropy reports that supporters who engage with multiple campaign types are 4x more valuable than supporters who participate in a single campaign. 

More Dollars Raised = More Medical Aid = More Lives Saved

Project C.U.R.E. just hit a huge milestone of $1 billion in medical aid sent to beneficiaries globally, including medical supplies, equipment, and services. It’s difficult to quantify the number of individuals impacted, but every dollar makes a difference. Direct impact on the communities includes:

• $25 a month ships a multi-use surgical kit and 2,000 clean syringes
• $50 a month ships a wheelchair
• $100 a month ships a defibrillator, patient monitor, or EKG machine

Project C.U.R.E. is looking forward to sending the next $1B in supplies and is excited to have Classy in its corner to support them on all things fundraising.

Girlstart provides a year-round, intensive suite of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education programs for K-12 girls. By utilizing Classy’s comprehensive fundraising platform, Girlstart can instill a high level of trust in its supporters by providing a streamlined donation process and showcasing the direct impact every dollar makes.  

Tapping Into Supporters’ Networks

According to Classy’s 2023 State of Modern Philanthropy report, 80% of people who give to a peer-to-peer campaign are new to the organization. This shows the power and potential of peer-to-peer fundraising as an extremely effective acquisition tool. With Classy’s peer-to-peer fundraising platform, Girlstart can tap into the networks of its supporters to inspire donations and help connect other young girls with a life-changing opportunity. 

Girlstart has transformed its fundraising processes on Classy in an upward trajectory. A fundraiser that generated $2,000 prior to Classy now generates $60,000+. The opportunities are endless, and Girlstart is taking advantage of every single one. 

Reaching More Audiences to Expand Its Mission

From the first touchpoint, Girlstart adds interested parties into their ecosystem and sets a communication train into action that sends out messages at the most opportune times. Coupled with Classy’s ease of use, multiple payment options, recurring giving tools, and more, the nonprofit is primed for increased revenue and amplified impact. 

Founded in 2012, Kansas City Pet Project (KC Pet Project) is dedicated to housing pets and helping pet families in need during times of crisis.

Building a Long-Term Partnership With Classy

Three years after it opened its doors, KC Pet Project adopted Classy to help strengthen and diversify its fundraising. The nonprofit had an urgent need for a streamlined fundraising tool that offered various campaign types, including fundraising events.

After seeing the incredible value of Classy, the KC Pet Project team decided to ditch the array of platforms they were previously leveraging and commit to Classy’s comprehensive suite. This transition allowed the team to become more efficient and accurate in its fundraising, data collection, and reporting. 

Celebrating 10 Years With an In-Person Gala

In 2022, KC Pet Project wanted to celebrate its 10-year anniversary by throwing its first-ever gala on a grand scale. Around that same time, Classy’s online event tool, Classy Live, was released. Without hesitation, the KC Pet Project team knew this tool would be critical to executing the event they envisioned. 

The team utilized a number of Classy Live’s features, including:

• Ticketing
• Event check-in
• Live silent auction
• Mobile bidding
• Messaging and reminders sent via email and text
• And more!

The event drew in 450 in-person attendees, including the Kansas City mayor and Missouri governor. All 94 auction items were sold (which raised $20k alone), and the event raised $150k above its stretch goal! 

According to the 2023 State of Modern Philanthropy report, the average Classy Live revenue per donor over the course of a year is $1,258. KC Pet Project is excited to see the benefits of this event throughout the entire year.

Following Along With Classy’s Rate of Innovation

KC Pet Project has always raised a hand to participate in the beta testing of new Classy features. They also recommend ideas that could improve their day-to-day work, and the Classy team takes that feedback into account when planning the product roadmap.

The team is in early talks about its next gala after seeing such success last year and is thinking of other events to use Classy Live. In the meantime, they’re prepping for Giving Tuesday, coming up at the end of November. They’re going to launch their first embedded donation form for this annual campaign with a goal to raise more than all previous giving days. Knowing that organizations using embedded donation forms on Classy are experiencing up to 29% more revenue per donation, KC Pet Project is hopeful for record-breaking numbers.

Tap Cancer Out combines people’s passions for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) with philanthropic endeavors that raise awareness and funds for cancer-fighting organizations.

Since its inception, which began with an idea at a Classy Awards ceremony in 2011, Tap Cancer Out has built its core fundraising model from the ground up with Classy, integrating the platform’s technology into every step of the donation journey.

A Tournament Model That Empowers Competitors to Fundraise for a Good Cause

Tap Cancer Out has always known that a registration with fundraising model is the right approach for its jiu-jitsu tournaments. Participants can register for a tournament as a Paid Competitor and are charged an entrance fee upfront (ranging from $70-$100), or they can register for free as a Fundraising Competitor. As long as they raise $250 or more, they owe nothing to compete. Anything raised above that amount can earn them Tap Cancer Out perks and swag. 

The funds raised at each Tap Cancer Out event help fund the more than $1,000,000 in yearly gifts committed to TCO’s beneficiary organizations which include Alex’s Lemonade Stand, the American Brain Tumor Association, and First Descents.

Attracting Participants and Accurately Tracking Their Fundraising Data 

Tap Cancer Out started working with Media Cause, a mission-driven marketing and creative agency that helps nonprofits grow and accelerate their impact, over seven years ago. 

By utilizing paid media efforts, including Google Ad Grants, awareness and digital ads on social media, and paid search campaigns, Media Cause helped grow Tap Cancer Out’s brand awareness while attracting and increasing the number of registrants per tournament. Now, paid media is responsible for 37% of tournament registrations. 

Media Cause also helped set up the Meta Conversions API for Tap Cancer Out, which connects Facebook fundraising with Classy’s backend to ensure peer-to-peer fundraising dollars match all donor data in Classy. This data hygiene practice allows Tap Cancer Out and Media Cause to optimize performance while keeping the cost per registrant low.

New Sports, New Opportunities to Fundraise

Tap Cancer Out is continuously innovating, optimizing, and iterating its process. If a tournament city isn’t meeting the fundraising goals or participant demands as expected, they’ll find another city that is. All of this information is visible in Classy’s reporting function and provides accurate data for the Tap Cancer Out team to predict and react to trends in their tournaments. 

Tap Cancer Out is expanding its sports offerings through a bi-annual Golf Classic that follows a similar structure to the jiu-jitsu tournaments. By continuing to utilize Classy’s registration with fundraising tool, Tap Cancer Out can host high-quality and highly efficient events while raising money for life-saving cancer research. 

One tool in Classy’s suite is a peer-to-peer campaign builder. BPL ran its first-ever peer-to-peer fundraising campaign on Classy last year and raised 113% of its goal!

BPL is very connected to its supporter base and has focused on growing its sustainer (recurring) donor program over the past year with Classy. With a multi-pronged approach that puts monthly giving front and center on most donation forms, BPL has seen a significant influx of monthly gifts.

The BPL team is looking forward to seeing the donations roll in on their new inline embedded donation form on the Books Unbanned landing page. The donation experience is streamlined and frictionless, reducing the number of steps to donate and bringing in an average of 2x more revenue. It is truly a win-win for both the donor and BPL.

The Future Is Bright for BPL

Just one year in with Classy, BPL has already made great strides, surpassing $1M raised on the platform. And they’re not slowing down anytime soon.

As the library continues to connect with the community, welcome patrons into their locations, and get supporters involved in virtual programs, they’re also welcoming them to donate online through one of the various campaign types available. 

The team has seen its online giving grow in recent years, making a tremendous impact on its mission. Having a flexible tool like Classy saves the BPL team time and makes it easier for supporters to contribute to their local library.