The Colorado Music Festival & Center for Musical Arts might be best known for the first-rate orchestra and guest artists it brings to Chautauqua Auditorium every summer. But its music school brings some 500 people through its doors every week, year-round.
“By participating in the Colorado Gives Day master class, we’ve gained terrific information about fundraising best practices that have really refined our year-end efforts,” says Margaret DeMichelis, development director. “We communicate a lot with our constituents, so we’re always thinking about how to stand out as we near Colorado Gives Day. The consultants brought together by The Community Foundation have shared what seems to be working, along with supporting data.”
In particular, DeMichelis notes that timing is key – as well as working strategically to raise awareness over time. “Our online communications are more targeted, now,” she says. “Information from the master class has helped drive our timing, and how we use email blasts to engage our audience and inspire their interest.
“And we’re being even more thoughtful about how we plan our crossover communications for the festival and school, from the letters that we send to the timing of our media blasts.”
The festival and school developed a video announcement that explains Colorado Gives Day and this year’s $1 million incentive fund – presented by Community First Foundation and FirstBank – and why giving now is an opportunity for donors to leverage their contributions.
“In the past – and this year, too – we see Colorado Gives Day as one objective within our fundraising strategy, rather than as our main fundraising objective,” explains DeMichelis. “It’s not the main thing we do to increase donor engagement, but it’s built into our year-end appeal. We pitch Colorado Gives Day through phone calls, emails and direct mail, but we also emphasize that anytime donors care to support is great.”
According to DeMichelis, this year’s prescheduled donations to the festival and school – to be processed on Dec. 9 – are already double what they were was last year. “We’ve had very strong participation by people visiting our website and scheduling their donations in advance,” she says. “It validates the work that we’ve done.”
Indeed, prescheduled donations across the state are up 42% over this time last year.
DeMichelis also cites the master class’ networking advantage. “The opportunity to meet colleagues I hadn’t met before has power beyond this project,” she says. “Everyone in the room is so generous with sharing their perspectives and ideas, and how those ideas might be adaptable for other organizations. I have no doubt that those relationships will continue.”
