Key Elements
- CCS helped Sidwell Friends School spur its campaign by realigning its prospect pipeline, developing a gift request activity strategy, and providing support and training to its advancement team.
- CCS’s partnership with the communications team and external messaging and branding vendors prepared Sidwell Friends for a successful public phase of the Campaign.
- The School secured over $51,000,000 in philanthropic support in two years of partnership with CCS, bringing it to $120,000,000 of its $152,000,000 goal with two years remaining in their active Campaign.
How We Helped
Sidwell Friends School received strategic counsel at a pivotal moment in the Campaign’s timeline. With an increased focus on solicitation activity and discipline to achieve specific benchmarks, we were able to accelerate our progress and build significant momentum to celebrate nearly 80% at the launch of the public phase. We are grateful for CCS’s partnership and guidance.
Tara Arras, Assistant Head of School for Advancement, Sidwell Friends School
THE CHALLENGE
Sidwell Friends School needed to jumpstart activity for its campaign in a post-2020 COVID climate. The campaign had already been in the quiet phase of activity for six years but had not yet crossed the 50% benchmark in funds raised.
THE SOLUTION
To gain the momentum needed to succeed, CCS helped Sidwell Friends School realign its prospect pipeline through data analytics and prospecting sessions with key stakeholders. CCS developed gift request strategies for leadership-level prospects and recruited and retained campaign volunteers. CCS also supported Sidwell Friends’ new Assistant Head of School for Advancement in her onboarding and transition.
As part of this engagement, CCS employed data analytics and predictive modeling with the goal of generating new prospects for the pipeline. The goal of the new pipeline development to find prospects with the capacity and affinity to make a meaningful gift to Sidwell. The CCS Analytics Team applied advanced statistical tools to evaluate the quality of performance of assigned portfolios and generate a list of new compelling major gift prospects.
Partnering with the School’s communications team and external messaging and branding vendors, CCS helped Sidwell Friends prepare a successful public phase of the campaign.
THE impact
Sidwell Friends’ Together We Shine campaign was launched publicly at Homecoming 2022 (October 2022), which was a true testament to the success of this project. After seven years in the quiet phase of activity, Sidwell Friends’ leadership remained committed to elevating activity and secured over $51,000,000 in philanthropic support in two years of partnership with CCS, bringing them to $120,000,000 of their $152,000,000 goal with two years remaining in their active campaign.
Featured Team Member
The Together We Shine Campaign for Sidwell Friends School was a once in a lifetime opportunity to solidify the future for the School. As the first phase of their Campus unification, this Campaign has been Sidwell Friends’ opportunity to welcome a wider community, reimagine the future of learning, and ethically engage with the world. We are proud to be a partner in this very important work leaving lasting change for students, alumni, parents, and the community.
Jennifer Devon, Senior Vice President, CCS Fundraising
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