A College-Access Charity Uses ‘Gratitude’ as a Theme to Drive Donations

The Chronicle is highlighting organizations that have devised innovative approaches to year-end fundraising. Here’s one of them:

College Possible, which helps low-income students enter college and graduate, is using the theme of gratitude to persuade donors to give.

The approach seems to be working: The charity is nearly three-quarters of the way to its goal of raising $165,000 during its year-end fundraising push and has brought in more than twice as much as it had at this point last year.

College Possible is sharing stories with its donors of students who are grateful for the charity’s help through direct mail, email, and social media. On social media, donors can see portions of a “gratitude quilt” that the students made. The quilt is composed of tiny squares of paper on which the students have drawn, written, or otherwise illustrated what they are thankful for.

Supporters are also given an opportunity to contribute to the quilt: The charity is mailing letters to donors that include a tear-off section that supporters can mail back to College Possible to share their own messages of gratitude. Some of those are then added to the quilt.

The cornerstone of the charity’s social-media outreach is “Thankful Thursdays,” a weekly communication that College Possible kicked off on Thanksgiving with an email to supporters from a young adult who graduated from college because of the organization’s help. Every Thursday until year’s end, the charity features similar expressions of gratitude from students on social networks.

Here’s a Vine video by the organization that highlights the “gratitude quilt.”