Overview
Liberty Hill Foundation is a small nonprofit organization in Los Angeles, dedicated to raising and distributing funds for local social justice organizations.
Media Cause first partnered with Liberty Hill in 2021 to collaborate on their year-end online fundraising campaign. The client was hesitant: previous December efforts had fallen flat. So we put our heads together on a year-end effort that utilized proven tactics, programmatic urgency, and arresting creative.
We resumed our partnership in 2022 to craft their End of Fiscal Year effort in September and their year-end campaign in November and December. During our second engagement, with a successful campaign behind us, we were positioned to lean into EOY fundraising—and surpass their record setting 2021 effort.
Liberty Hill Foundation has an excellent reputation among its existing supporters, but too few Angelenos are familiar with it, leading to struggles in acquiring new donors. Typical lead generation activities, including advocacy, were off-brand and unavailable, leaving us with limited engagement and lead generation options.
Finally, previous efforts to fundraise in December had fallen flat, leading to skepticism that holiday fundraising was effective for the organization. As a result, there was no matching gift to leverage at critical moments, which put Liberty Hill’s campaign at an early disadvantage against its competitors.
The challenge laid out to us was clear: How can we successfully seize the year-end season to successfully raise funds?
We joined forces to design, write, and launch a cross-channel campaign to inform, cultivate, and solicit at key moments in the fundraising calendar.
With no matching gift, it was even more important to leverage proven tactics, highlight tax-deductibility, and emphasize the programmatic urgency of a year-end gift.
With an eye on key dates in their calendar—including Giving Tuesday and the final five days of the year—we launched a carefully constructed fundraising campaign grounded in tactics, arresting creative, and copy that drove their email list to action.
We emphasized what makes Liberty Hill unique among social justice organizations—a gift there takes the guesswork out of philanthropy and sends funds straight to where they’ll make the most impact.
The 2021 Fundrasing Outcome? A 45% increase in revenue and 72% increase in gift count compared to 2020.
Our challenge in 2022 was clear: Build on the progress and results of 2021.
In 2022, our engagement spanned two critical moments in Liberty Hill’s calendar: their fiscal and calendar year-end periods—both excellent opportunities to engage the audience and move them to donate.
This would take meaningful cultivation and engagement opportunities, including a new L.A. Issues News Quiz to inform the audience and shine a spotlight on the work Liberty Hill makes possible.
But more than anything, it would take a cogent case for support and a narrative that homes in on the issues affecting everyday Angelenos—and how a gift to Liberty Hill can build a more just, equitable L.A.
With advocacy still off the table, we designed an engagement and lead generation action that felt true to the client’s brand and mission.
Using an L.A. Issues news quiz, we educated Liberty Hill’s audience on issues of housing affordability, environmental justice, voting access, and more in an enjoyable and user-friendly quiz. While the issues were local, they were covered nationwide, allowing Liberty Hill to insert themselves into a national dialogue as leader in the space. With every question and answer, we positioned Liberty Hill as a powerful force for progress and change across L.A. County.
Following this engagement effort, we balanced cultivation and solicitation with two strategically timed fundraising arcs. The first of these occurred at the end of their fiscal year, in September, with a transparent financial appeal that communicated the importance of the moment.
Our efforts culminated in a year-end campaign that leveraged Liberty Hill’s first-ever matching gift challenge and emphasized the programmatic urgency of the moment—and how a gift to Liberty Hill works overtime to ensure the most just 2023 possible in Los Angeles.
Unlike our 2021 effort, our charge was to acquire new donors and renew lapsed donors—not to solicit active donors.
To maximize fundraising returns with these audiences in mind, we served constituents with tailored content that spoke specifically to their donor journeys.
Further, with one successful year-end campaign behind us, we increased volume, launched a matching gift, and leaned into year-end fundraising with tactics that reliably convert new and returning donors.
