Overview
As a faith-based health care not-for-profit, Church Health cares for each one its patients as we’d all like to be cared for. They commit every day to making the highest quality health care accessible to more Memphians—especially those facing social and economic challenges — so we can all live our lives with dignity, vitality, and joy.
With services that span all ages and that treat the whole person, Church Health makes it possible for more Memphians to live fully, regardless of their insurance status or income level
In November and December 2021, Media Cause developed the concept and strategy for Church Health’s inaugural digital end-of-year appeal.
As a local health nonprofit, Church Health shares a common challenge among local nonprofits: Competing for share of heart, mind, and wallet against larger, national, and more established nonprofits working within the same issue area. To combat this, Church Health leaned into the local nature of their work, providing examples of the impact they have on everyday Memphians, and painting a picture of the real lives of Church Health patients. In previous years, Church Health shied away from ‘typical’ fundraising moments such as Giving Tuesday. In 2021 Church Health put their best forward to compete with the larger organizations to great effect.
Media Cause and Church Health collaborated on a strategy designed to lean into the local nature of Church Health’s work with a unique offer: Memphians helping Memphians. This was a multi-channel effort including email, Church Health’s website, organic social, and paid media with the intention of competing with larger nonprofits across channels.
In between the key date ranges (Giving Tuesday and in the last 48 hours of the year ), Church Health cultivated audiences with non-fundraising-ask stories of healing and impact through email.
Website
We ensured the website was optimized for year end giving, with matching gift offers front-and-center with a year-end giving lightbox that ran from mid-November through December 31.
Social Media
Church Health leveraged organic social posts to echo email asks and ensure audiences had Church Health top of mind.
Paid Media
Church Health also dedicated $30,000 in budget for paid media, to serve fundraising ads on Facebook and Google Search, leveraging match specific and/or deadline focused messaging whenever appropriate.
The topline messaging for the campaign was focused on telling a story that would connect with both the hearts and minds of the local community. We wanted to help them understand a few key items about Church Health:
In the run-up to crucial fundraising moments, Church Health engaged its supporters through dynamic impact storytelling. Using video content and patient stories, messaging demonstrated that gifts to Church Health make a difference in the lives of hardworking Memphians. In addition, Church Health included warm holiday cultivations under their founder and CEO’s signature, and a Christmas card signing drive by which supporters could send holiday wishes to children in Church Health’s care.
Church Health leveraged a matching gift challenge during key fundraising periods: Giving Tuesday and the final five days of the year.
Matching funds not only help create an enhanced sense of deadline urgency, but also provided the donor with a chance to increase their impact for an organization they care about. This tried-and-true tactic is especially important during year-end fundraising when donors are actively looking for reputable organizations with existing relationships in their local community.
Between key fundraising moments, we used email to emphasize Church Health’s gratitude to its donors, leveraging the founder and CEO’s voice to wish the email community a very Merry Christmas. In addition to patient stories and videos, we also took the occasion to keep Church Health supporters engaged, asking them to sign a holiday card for children who need health care during the Christmas season.
