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Southern Wesleyan University

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“During this uncertain time, we wanted to create a unique week of giving campaign that brought students, alumni and staff together, but also indicated our need for support.” 

– Tony Payne, Associate Vice President Southern Wesleyan University

Challenge

Solution

Each April, Southern Wesleyan University, a private Christian university in South Carolina, holds its Week of Giving. By the spring of 2020, the Southern Wesleyan staff knew they’d have to package their annual giving campaign to provide relief to students impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. As a Christ-centered organization, the school wanted a way to help students suffering financially and spiritually while also being sensitive to constituents who may not have the ability to give. The Southern Wesleyan team was challenged to create a week of giving campaign that did both.

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Tony Payne, Southern Wesleyan’s Associate Vice President for Development, wanted a centralized place online to host details on the 2020 week of giving. He worked with the [GiveSmart] team to set up an Event Page for the campaign. They worked together to create a campaign web page that respected the constituent’s possible inability to give while also indicating the continued financial need for Southern Wesleyan University community members. The Event Page links to mental health, work and career, and spiritual and community resources. In addition to their emailing marketing and mobile messaging channels, the Southern Wesleyan team shared their Event Page on social media with #SWUCares.

Impact

Despite social distancing restrictions, Southern Wesleyan raised $22,024 for their week of giving campaign, almost the same amount they raised in 2019 ($22,306). In addition to the emergency funds raised for students displaced by the COVID-19 pandemic, Southern Wesleyan was also able to provide spiritual, health, career, and media enrichment resources. With help from [GiveSmart], the team quickly pivoted their annual week of giving into a meaningful week of caring.

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Southern Wesleyan University was founded in 1906 by what is now the Wesleyan Church. The university offers 35 major areas of study for undergraduates, along with graduate and doctoral degrees.

GiveSmart is a fundraising and donor management system that enables organizations to accelerate fundraising through configurable, mobile-friendly campaigns, peer-to-peer giving, auction and event management, simple tracking, and secure payment processing. 

Our mission is to help nonprofits and organizations reach their fundraising goals while creating an engaging, exciting, and easy giving experience for their donors. All. Year. Round. Click here to get started with GiveSmart. 

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Disclaimer: This case study originally featured a nonprofit that used MobileCause. MobileCause is now fully integrated into the GiveSmart platform. All mentions have been edited to reflect the new naming conventions.  

 The legacy feature set, staff assistance, and training continue to support thousands of nonprofits in raising billions of dollars. We invite you to check out GiveSmart Fundraise, Events, and Donor CRM today.