Latest News
Keep up with our latest project and digital fundraising trends here.
October 12, 2017
Georgia Tech and MainSpring teamed up to create an email campaign for Reunion Giving Day 2017. The milestone reunion class years of 1967, 1977 and 1992 were challenged to meet a participation goal. Not only was the Reunion Giving Day in honor of the reunion year, but it also marked the 132nd year of Georgia Tech's founding. Two pre-campaign emails were sent, eight emails were sent throughout the day and then a follow-up thank you email was sent to announce the results.
One helluva Reunion Giving Day
Reunion Giving Day has just 8 hours to go
Thank you - together we swarmed!
April 3, 2017
The UC Davis campus is buzzing with new and exciting endeavors. To gauge interest and involvement in these new buildings, services, museums and more, the UC Davis Office of Development teamed with MainSpring to create a survey. The "Envision the University of the 21st Century" survey was sent to alumni and friends who were all entered into a drawing for an iPad mini. Once the viewer submitted the survey page, they were taken to a thank you page.
Envision the University of the 21st Century Survey
Share your thoughts. Shape the future. Email
April 2, 2017
MainSpring partnered with UC Davis on the launch of their first ever give day challenge. It coincided with Picnic Day, a longstanding tradition celebrating Aggie Pride.
March 23, 2017
NYU called on the NYU community to join together for their second Giving Day on March 23rd. The support for #NYUOneDay was overwhelming with NYU exceeding their donor goal and raising over $700,000. MainSpring partnered with NYU on the Giving Day strategy, email communication, social media communication and website.
February 18, 2017
This campaign was developed to encourage people to update their contact information and included a giveaway comprised of Duke basketball tickets and other basketball related prizes.
January 20, 2017
LSU wrapped up their calendar year giving campaign with a 3 part email series that included a targeted strategy. The second email which was sent to everyone who had opened the initial email but not made a gift resulted with an open rate of 42.5%. This open rate reflected the engagement of this group and their continued interest with this LSU email series.
December 8, 2016
The Diocese of Dallas teamed with MainSpring to create two emails that celebrated the then-Bishop Farrell's appointment at the Vatican as a Cardinal by the Pope. This monumental event was the source of much pride at the Diocese. Both emails included a video farewell message by Cardinal Farell.
Saying Farewell to Bishop Farrell
Celebrate Cardinal Farrell
November 17, 2016
To engage undergrad seniors and their parents and drive them to give, Robert H.Smith School of Business at University of Maryland teamed with Mainspring to create a senior class giving email campaign. The four part email series resulted in a 5.3% click through rate across the series, a 57% unique open rate across the series and a 1300% increase in giving compared to the prior fiscal year as of January 2017.
November 13, 2016
Rollins College launched an end of calendar year “You are the Reason” campaign to share student impact stories. A series of emails drove constituents to a website that featured five student videos. The videos were rolled out over the course of five weeks to ensure the content on the website remained updated and we saw 28% returning visitors to the site over the course of the campaign.
October 29, 2016
Spelman College celebrated their 10-year anniversary of the Every Woman…Every Year! website with an update of the site. A new feature was added – a gift calculator, which gives tangible items that gifts support on a daily basis. The site was ready for Homecoming 2016.
October 28, 2016
Alpha Chi Omega joined MainSpring for their fall Life Loyal Campaign email series. The audience was divided into four segments: general alumnae, VIP alumnae, alumnae who graduated from 1970-1980 and parents. The theme of this year’s campaign was “Add your name to a legacy that’s bigger than any one chapter could ever be.” Anyone who joined was automatically entered to win a Tory Burch tote bag. The send/resend strategy worked well and the campaign captured over 80 new joiners!
September 15, 2016
East Carolina University launched their Fall 2016 fundraising campaign with personalized emails for each of their main colleges. The email features a video introduction from the college's student and gives the constituents a chance to follow along with the student this semester through #myECUyear. ECU will update the template throughout the semester to continue to engage donors and highlight how their donations are making a difference on campus.
Brody School of Medicine
College of Allied Health Sciences
College of Engineering and Technology
College of Arts and Sciences
August 30, 2016
This Insider Report newsletter was created to drive awareness and engagement for the work at the Duke Cancer Institute. The newsletter contained feature stories, research updates and upcoming events focusing on the fight against cancer.
July 26, 2016
Duke Cancer Institute thanked 2016 donors and asked them to renew their gift and continue helping Duke Cancer Institute in their mission to deliver individualized, compassionate care to every patient. The email showcases Duke Cancer Institute employees holding a thank you sign. The email send and re-send achieved a 40.9% email open rate and 4.2% click through rate, both exceeding industry averages.
June 30, 2016
Peter Morrissette’s journey with Duke Cancer Institute is featured in an email thanking all past donors. In a video link you hear from Peter and his family about his groundbreaking treatment and outcome at Duke Cancer Institute.
June 22, 2016
UC Davis teamed with MainSpring for the annual Aggie Challenge to raise scholarship funds. This year’s theme was 8,000 donors in 8 weeks. They reached their goal with a mix of general messaging and segment-specific messaging throughout the 8 weeks. Each segment-specific email had a mini-goal along with a donor count tracker featured so that the viewer could keep track of their specific segment goal.
June 12, 2016
To celebrate the Thank Goodness for Staff event on campus, UC Davis Health System targeted an email to employees encouraging them to enroll in payroll deduction or to make a one-time gift. Anyone who did so was automatically entered to win an iPad mini.
June 1, 2016
The Duke Annual Fund partnered with MainSpring to develop an end of fiscal year campaign challenge that was executed over email and social media. MainSpring developed the email, social strategy and calendar, email and social scripting, unique email banners, and Facebook ads and posts. The campaign was segmented for 8 different schools and units and included customized text, photos and participation goals for each unit. As a result of the campaign, the Duke Annual Fund broke gift records for the month of June by raising more than $575K and resulted in a 59% increase in donors for the month of June.
Nicholas School Facebook post
Duke Annual Fund Instagram post
Email Banner
June 1, 2016
May 2016 marked the first month-long giving challenge for Marist University. The “May Is For Marist” campaign engaged donors to not only give, but share their favorite Marist memories through all social media platforms. Marist reached their participation goal midway through the campaign and continued to engage with their audience achieving 144% of their donor participation goal by the campaign's end. MainSpring developed the strategy, email content, social media content and ambassador toolkit.
May 9, 2016
Quinnipiac University teamed with MainSpring to create a spring email campaign that focused on the exciting things happening on campus. Three versions were created to appeal to alumni, parents and law school alumni.
May 7, 2016
The UC Davis School of Nursing joined MainSpring to create an email to celebrate National Nurses Week. The solicitation email featured a current graduate student R.N. who believes in the power of giving.
May 5, 2016
Duke Children’s gave donors the chance to support their pediatric research and patient care through a spring 2016 email series. The email story highlighted the life changing research taking place at Duke and gave donors the opportunity to continue their dedication to Duke Children’s. The MainSpring designed email campaign drew an impressive 49.5% email open rate.
Innovative Care that Changes Lives email
Your Support Changes Children's Lives email
April 1, 2016
UC Davis took an opportunity to reach out to their young alumni with an email developed by MainSpring that talked about how giving up one coffee a week can make a difference on campus. The email asked viewers to “Be the change” by enrolling in a monthly giving program and giving $10 a month.
March 31, 2016
UC Davis joined MainSpring to create an email that focused on the word impact…how the research done at UC Davis makes an impact and how gifts impact that research. The email asked the viewer to act by making a gift.
March 26, 2016
The UC Davis School of Medicine capitalized on Match Day to send out an email that brings its alumni back to campus through a video of Match Day 2016 as well as asks for a gift in honor of the big day.
March 10, 2016
The UC Davis Health System joined MainSpring to create a stewardship email for employees in honor of Employee Appreciation Day. The email featured a group from the Health System holding a giant Thank You sign.
March 5, 2016
To thank their donors, UC Davis collaborated with MainSpring to develop a stewardship campaign for each of its schools/colleges. Each school/college created a video showing gifts in action. The theme “Your gift makes our students’ stories possible” was carried throughout each email.
School of Law
School of Education
College of Biological Sciences
March 3, 2016
NYU called on alumni, parents, faculty, staff, students and friends of NYU to join together for their first ever NYU Giving Day on March 3rd. The support for #NYUOneDay was overwhelming with NYU doubling their donor goal and raising over $250,000. MainSpring partnered with NYU on the Giving Day strategy, email communication, social media communication and toolkit, and website.
NYUOneDay.org
NYUOneDay Instagram Campaign Image
NYUOneDay Facebook Campaign Image
February 20, 2016
UC Davis joined MainSpring to create an email campaign targeting donors. 14 versions were created for the various schools and colleges at the university. The email described how gifts can impact the school/college as well as featured an alumni or student who has benefitted from scholarships.
February 11, 2016
MainSpring Media collaborated with Duke Cancer Institute to highlight Vice President Biden’s National Cancer Moonshot visit to Duke Health. MainSpring created an email template with an interchangeable header and customizable buttons to help Duke Cancer Institute engage with large donor and patient audiences across all of Duke Health. The 2 part email series saw email open rates over 20% for existing constituents and a 61.9% open rate for new constituents that signed up to receive emails through a customized online form.
We’re Changing the Rules on Cancer email
A Cancer Institute Unlike Any Other email
December 17, 2015
To close out the calendar year 2015, the UC Davis Health System joined MainSpring to send a final year-end solicitation with two resends. The email was sent to lybunts who had given in the past three years but not within the last six months.
December 8, 2015
UC Davis joined MainSpring to ask faculty and staff to make a gift this fall through an email solicitation. The faculty email featured a prominent faculty member who is also a donor. The email included a quote on why this faculty member feels it is so important to give. The Staff email featured a men’s basketball coach whom is also a donor. Again, the email included his reasons for giving. Faculty and staff emails are a great way to reach out to potential donors about the importance of giving back to your employer.
December 5, 2015
UC Davis teamed with MainSpring for an end of calendar year email series that featured four drops with 16-19 versions per drop. To target each school/college of the university from graduate schools to undergraduate schools plus various other entities on campus like the Library, we developed an individualized version by changing out logos, giving links, copy and photos but using the same overall framework. Each version was unique and developed with its constituents in mind.
College of Engineering
College of Agricultural and Environmental Studies
Student Affairs
Athletics
December 1, 2015
UC Davis Health System celebrates Giving Tuesday with an email created by MainSpring that was sent to lybunts and non-donor patients as well as employees. The email complimented the national Giving Tuesday look and asked its constituents to join the Health System with a gift to celebrate Giving Tuesday.
November 20, 2015
The UC Davis Senior Class Challenge wrapped up the campaign with a final email push for December graduates. The clean, modern email was a quick and easy way for seniors to give in honor of their time at the university.
November 10, 2015
The UC Davis Health System Employee Giving group joined MainSpring to create two versions of an email for employee giving stewardship and solicitation– one to steward its donor and one to solicit new donors. Current employee donors were featured in the emails to thank current donors and to also explain why they chose to give.
October 29, 2015
Fall 2015 brought East Carolina University and MainSpring back together for a fall renewal email campaign. The series included 5 different emails targeting specific schools on campus as well general donors. The interactive design integrated with ECU’s Rel@y system and allowed MainSpring to bring in images and text relevant to each donor base.
October 24, 2015
UC Davis and MainSpring worked together to solicit younger alumni through a recurring gift email. The email emphasized the importance of giving no matter the size and also showed how easy it is to set up a monthly gift. A version was also created for the School of Law.
October 21, 2015
Alpha Chi Omega and MainSpring teamed up this fall for a Life Loyal campaign that focused on YOU. You are Alpha Chi Omega was the theme carried through this fall series. Using dynamic content, photos from each decade were used to personalize the emails for alumnae. A parents’ version was also created that asked parents to help keep their daughters connected to Life Loyal through a membership. A multiple send and resend strategy was used over a 2-month period.
October 18, 2015
Georgia Tech has a rich history as one of the best engineering schools in the nation. To celebrate the 50th, 40th and 25th reunions in the fall of 2015, they joined MainSpring to create an email that uses dynamic content to invite alumni back to the reunion, ask for a gift in honor of the reunion as well as thank those who already registered and made their gift. The reunion campaign for all three reunion years did amazingly well and all exceeded their multi-million dollar goals.
October 16, 2015
MainSpring and Spelman College worked together to update Spelman’s Every Woman Every Year website with new branding, a new questionnaire and mobile responsive design. The site provides Spelman alumnae, students and friends of the college with updates on giving, reunions and volunteer opportunities. It also serves to spotlight alumnae and underscores the importance of staying connected to Spelman by being "Every Woman… Every Year"!
October 1, 2015
UC Davis joined MainSpring to create an email solicitation campaign that was sent at the beginning of fall semester classes. There were 18 versions created for the various schools and units at UC Davis. Each version included a featured person whether it was a student, professor or an alum from the specific school or unit.
September 27, 2015
Quinnipiac University and MainSpring teamed up to create an email campaign with the theme of “Looking inward, outward and forward.” The email gives a quick look inside at what’s going on around campus as well as out in the community and then asks the viewer to look forward by making their gift. A version was also sent to parents.
September 14, 2015
MainSpring created a sense of nostalgia for East Carolina University with their 2015 Move-In Day email. The mobile responsive design incorporated move-in day images with a customized letter that was used to both engage with donors and continue to foster a sense of pride among ECU constituents.
August 25, 2015
UC Davis took the opportunity to steward their donors by sending them a thank you email developed by MainSpring which featured a video message. Ten versions were created for the various schools and colleges. The emails included a "news" button which linked to the latest information from the school/college as well as a "join us" button which linked to events and activities that the viewer could sign up for.
Graduate School of Management email
School of Education email
June 30, 2015
MainSpring gave a modern spin to East Carolina University’s end of fiscal year email series. The mobile friendly layout incorporated a long customizable header image that tied in with the concise message that followed. The engaging template layout was updated throughout the series with new photos and updated content, focusing on different ECU interest areas to help target new donors.
2015 Graduates make ECU proud
Straight talk alum to alum
The Secret to My Success
June 29, 2015
UC Davis issued its alumni and friends an end of fiscal year challenge! MainSpring helped by creating 4 email versions with 11 segments each. The challenge was to raise $250,000 by June 30. Two of the segments, the School of Medicine and the Graduate School of Management had their own challenges. Four sends and a resend of the final email were sent throughout an 8 week period. Photos and copy were changed per send.
Annual Fund email
College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences email
Graduate School of Management email
School of Medicine email
May 1, 2015
East Carolina University and MainSpring continued their partnership with a new end of fiscal year email series and a separate email highlighting ECU’s Founders Day. The email series incorporated a fresh design that included customizable text and updated photos for each send. MainSpring used engaging content and strategic send times to help engage new donor acquisition. The Founders Day email was a way for ECU to continue to engage with their core audience without a direct solicitation.
April 23, 2015
MainSpring joined the Diocese of Trenton to create a website and print materials for the launch of their campaign, Faith to Move Mountains. A folder with stepped and stapled inserts was designed along with a tri-fold brochure, envelopes and a pledge card. The materials all coordinated with each other as well as the website. The site is a place to get information about the campaign and also a place to make a donation.
Folder cover
Stapled insert
Tri-fold brochure
Faith to Move Mountains website
April 15, 2015
This spring we continued our work with Lamar University on an engaging spring campaign. The project complimented their fall collaboration with updates to a direct mail piece and email series. The print and email pieces targeted existing and new donor acquisition, and continued to use the customized mobile giving form.
View this email here.
March 6, 2015
MainSpring redesigned the Emory Scholars’ website to help recruit new students, interact with parents and engage with their alumni. We gave the homepage a fresh face that included a picture slideshow highlighting various activities from the year and an interactive graphic featuring the program’s key qualities. Throughout the site, we incorporated Emory Scholar videos, customizable banners and buttons. The site has the ability to grow as Emory Scholars continues to add programs and opportunities.
View the new website.
January 9, 2015
MainSpring launched a new website for the Chiaroscuro Foundation and their new project - Chiaroscuro Grow. To connect constituents to giving, the Chiaroscuro Foundation has created a crowd-funding platform called Chiaroscuro Grow. Each quarter Chiaroscuro Grow features an organization that approaches a problem in a new and innovative way. They cover the costs of promoting these organizations and match 100% of whatever you contribute.
View the new website.
