Client Story: Midwest Jesuits

In the pre-Numad days when Matt, Kerry and Ted were making waves in the philanthropic world as staff members at Red Cloud Indian School on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, the founders of Numad came to learn more—much more, actually, about the work of the Jesuits. In fact, it was during their time at Red Cloud that they came to understand their work and role in the philanthropic world thanks in part to people like Fr. Peter Klink SJ, former president of the organization.

It was also when they first met Dan O'Brien, regional director for advancement at the Midwest Jesuits. Fast-forward to 2014, and Dan reached out to discuss how we could bring our experience with annual funds to the province's work. With our experience, and our belief in the work of the Jesuits, we embarked on this collaborative effort to raise annual funds for:

• Educating and training Jesuits currently in formation;

• Caring for senior Jesuits; and,

• Supporting national and international ministries that serve the poor.

Part of this project was to test a new method to the province's approach to annual giving, by segmenting their donor lists and acquiring new names from province-affiliated organizations. With these new segments, targeted messaging that tied the work of the Jesuits back to the prospect's specific relationship with the Jesuits was created, designed and mailed. In the fall of 2014, Numad:

• Developed and designed messaging for online solicitations and print materials to be used in the appeal pieces; and,

• Reported on the successful results of the campaign.

The targeted mailings from a small segment mailed brought more than 100 new donors to the Jesuits, with gift amounts that ranged from $25-$1,000. The campaign was so successful that the Jesuits decided to continue the collaboration in the spring 2015, and plan to introduce new segments to the approach this year.