Berea College was founded in 1855 as the first interracial and coeducational college in the American South. As a tuition-free college, Berea relies on donor generosity to fund Tuition Promise Scholarships for every admitted student. Using Engaging Networks, Berea College was able to increase revenue by creating custom, testable campaigns that fit their needs and offer a better donor experience.

The Challenge: Telling a Unique Story in a Creative Way

Berea College needed a digital fundraising tool as unique as they are. Creating a custom look and feel to each campaign gives them the best opportunity to highlight their students’ success stories — and that’s functionality that previous vendors didn’t offer, says Andreea Teban, Associate Director of Digital Annual Giving at Berea College and an alum of the school.

“A lot of times, we can’t find software that will meet our needs in terms of how we can customize the product and what it can bring to the table when it comes to cultivating that donor relationship,” Andreea said.

The Solution: Customizable Donor Outreach Tools

Using Engaging Networks, Andreea can now create customized campaigns tailored to Berea College’s unique story and mission. By making small changes and refreshing their content regularly, Berea College has been able to refine their messaging and better reach their donors. Now, they’re exceeding nonprofit industry benchmarks and seeing growth in donor revenue.

“We’ve experienced about 20% in increased revenue in the last two years,” Andreea said. “We are really excited to also see a higher click-through rate on all of our email broadcasts.”

Adding Touches That Improve the Donor Experience

Engaging Networks offers features designed to create a streamlined donor experience, such as next suggested gifts (which tailor the suggested donation amount to each donor based on their past gifts) and upsell lightboxes (attention-grabbing message boxes that appear during a transaction, like those asking a one-time donor to consider contributing monthly). Using those and other features, like one-click donation pages, Andreea has put the donor experience front and center in each campaign. And, thanks to built-in A/B testing support, she can make data-informed decisions about changing or refreshing messaging and content until she lands on personalized messaging that truly resonates with donors.

“The most important part is that, at the end of the day, we highlight real students’ stories — real students’ lives — and show donors how their gifts to us are impacting lives through the tools that Engaging Networks gives us.”

– Andreea Teban, Associate Director of Digital Annual Giving at Berea College

Stability and Reliability When It Matters Most

During high-traffic giving periods, such as Giving Tuesday, nonprofits need a tool that will perform under pressure. According to Andreea, Engaging Networks has offered stability and confidence to run ambitious campaigns without worrying about crashes, donation form problems, or email rendering errors.

“When you run large campaigns, you want to know that the product that you’re using to put your campaign out into the world is solid and will do what it needs to do in those big, crucial 24 hours,” she said.

Key Takeaways

• Using Engaging Networks, Berea College has increased revenue by 20% and exceeded industry benchmarks.
• Customizable tools help them tailor their messaging and make sure their campaigns fit their unique story and mission.
• The platform offers stability and reliability during high-pressure giving windows.
• Built-in testing features help Berea College refine their messaging until it resonates with donors.
• Additional features like next suggested gifts and upsell lightboxes improve the donor experience while increasing campaign success.