Over a Quarter of Donors Gave Multiple Gifts to City of Refuge’s Back-to-School Campaign

Mission

Help individuals and families transition out of crisis in Atlanta through housing, health & wellness, youth development, and job training

Challenge

The ability to give donors different ways to support their organization and connect them with the impact of their gifts

Solution

With Classy’s Giving Cart, City of Refuge’s supporters can choose to give in ways that resonate with them in a single checkout experience

“Giving Cart helps us show donors the impact they’re having, which inspires more connection and giving. For example, our back-to-school campaign let donors browse different ways they could support, and many chose to expand their contributions before checkout. It’s been a huge success, with 26% of donations containing multiple gifts.”

– Edward Phillips, VP of Development

Back-to-school campaign results after one month with Giving Cart:

26%

of donors chose to expand their donations with multiple gifts

$495

average donation size

Showing the Tangible Impact of a Gift to Supporters

With the back-to-school season coinciding with one of its biggest fundraisers of the year, the City of Refuge team was looking for new ways to connect supporters with their mission. Having already used Classy Studio for its Spring match campaign, the team was impressed with the impact tiles feature and loved the ability to communicate the specific impact of a donation. For the back-to-school campaign, they wanted to go one step further.

So, when Classy released Giving Cart, which gives donors the freedom to add multiple gifts during checkout, City of Refuge was one of the first to raise its hand.

One of our biggest challenges is helping donors see the tangible difference their generosity makes toward our mission. In the past, we’ve used impact tiles, but Giving Cart really took this to the next level.
Edward Phillips
VP of Development

Expanding Campaign Potential with Giving Cart

The flexibility of Giving Cart allowed the City of Refuge to add a portfolio of gifts that its supporters could add to their philanthropic cart, such as:

Supplies for a teacher
Supplies for a student
After school programming
One-time donation
Monthly donation

Back-to-school campaign with Giving Cart

The checkout process is familiar to anyone who has shopped online before. All chosen gifts are automatically added to the virtual cart, and Classy optimizes the process to just a few clicks. Plus, with multiple payment types to choose from, like Venmo, PayPal, Google Pay, and Apple Pay, more donor preferences are met, leading to a lower abandonment rate.

The City of Refuge team took an omnichannel approach to promoting the back-to-school campaign, including sending it via emails, direct mail, social media, and even email signature banners.

City of Refuge raised over $45,000 in one month, providing 300 new pairs of shoes and 300 new backpacks filled with school supplies to students who needed them.

More Ways to Use Giving Cart to Make a Bigger Impact

Apart from the back-to-school campaign, City of Refuge’s biggest fundraisers are all in the last two months of the year. The team plans to use Giving Cart for future fundraising campaigns to build on the success they’ve already seen in engagement and generosity.

Coming up, they have some impactful campaign ideas, including:

Fund a Thanksgiving meal
Fund a Halloween costume
Sponsor a family for the holidays

Classy’s innovations, like Giving Cart, enable us to continue growing and raise the bar for what our fundraising can do!
Edward Phillips
VP of Development