National Pancreatic Cancer Foundation: Building a Seamless Donor Experience with OneCause

Background

Background

The National Pancreatic Cancer Foundation (NPCF) has provided unwavering support for patients touched by pancreatic cancer since 2009. They work to preserve life and grant financial assistance to individuals facing this disease.

NPCF has grown over the past 14 years to funding traditional research and alternative treatments to help find a cure.

Through events and programming, it has helped over 450 families and provided $1.5 million in assistance to those struggling with pancreatic cancer.

Challenge

Challenge

Ready and eager to push their mission forward, NPCF was gearing up to host their annual United in Purple 5K!

As their main fundraiser of the year, NPCF uses this 5K to raise awareness and fund their support programs across the country. To accomplish this, the NPCF team knew they needed an easy-to-use fundraising software that provided a seamless experience for their attendees, but also could be set up quickly and easily for their events.

NPCF previously leveraged other fundraising software, but they were disjointed and lacked the engagement tools that NPCF needed to connect with their guests.

“Our previous software was hard to use and took forever to set up. We needed to find a fundraising partner to make fundraising easy and showcase our organic growth to help connect us more to our fundraising efforts,” explained Rhonda Williams, National Director of NPCF.

With a few weeks before their event day, Williams began her search for a new fundraising platform that would drive deeper engagement and reach their fundraising goals.

Solution

Solution

After searching and evaluating many solutions, Williams chose the OneCause Fundraising Platform.

“Coming from a background with technology, I know what it means to build good software. The OneCause Fundraising Platform met all my requirements. I knew it would create an easy-to-use experience for our team and our donors,” stated Williams.

Having partnered with OneCause, NPCF was ready to launch their 5K and start fundraising by:

Creating a Seamless Event Experience

With only 7 weeks until her event, Williams worked quickly to get their on-the-ground event, well… “off the ground”. She leveraged the OneCause training library to become an expert on the platform and was able to get their 5K event site built and her team trained within days.

“The platform was so easy to learn. Setting up the event and training our event staff was a breeze,” explained Williams.

By getting their event up and running fast, the NPCF team saved valuable time and was able to focus their efforts on promoting their event and driving deeper engagement with attendees.

NPCF tapped into the platform tools to ensure their event day provided a seamless experience, including:

  • Flexible express check-in
  • Useful attendee messaging
  • Easy event wrap-up

Express Check-in

Check-in can often be a challenge on event day. However, with the platform’s Express Check-in, NPCF was well-equipped to provide a quick and easy welcome to their 200+ attendees.

With Express Check-in, supporters are empowered to manage their registration and check-in, saving organizations countless hours and making the experience easier for today’s donors. Attendees are notified prior to the event that they can “skip the line” and check themselves in, as well as prompted to complete missing profile and payment information.

NPCF took full advantage of this functionality and the majority of their guests registered and checked in in advance of their arrival.

“It made our check-in so easy and so less stressful! We were able to get our guests into the fundraiser quickly, and they didn’t have to waste any time waiting in line. Everyone was happy,” stated Williams.

Attendee Messaging

During a fundraiser, nonprofits need a way to quickly communicate event updates to all participants and spark engagement with their mission. NPCF leveraged attendee messaging within the platform to easily and immediately communicate with their participants.

By leveraging the platform’s built-in messaging, NPCF was able to:

  • Send event information and updates (e.g., programming start times)
  • Inform attendees of the event closing
  • Tailor messages to specific guest groups
  • Notify participants to check-out and pay

“We really loved the messaging tool within the platform. It allowed us to customize and specify who received each message. We knew that with this tool all attendees would receive the message without any risk of it going into spam and not being seen,” explained Williams.

With in-event messaging, the ability for NPCF to reach their entire donor base was always at their fingertips. It was an easy and effective way to ensure their attendees stayed connected throughout the event.

Event Wrap up

On top of running a busy event, it can be challenging to ensure your attendees pick up their items and complete their payment. With the OneCause Fundraising Platform, NCPF was able to quickly and seamlessly wrap up their event, and:

  • Quickly close their event site and raffle.
  • Easily follow-up with attendees who might have forgotten items or payments.
  • Ensure all payments were processed.
  • Aggregate all event proceeds and analytics in one place.

“With the platform, closing our event was seamless. And because we have all our information in one place, next year’s 5K will be even faster to set up. I won’t have to recreate donor data, profiles, or event details, because it is already in the platform,” said Williams.

Leveraging Top-Rated Event Support

Having the right people in your corner during any fundraising event can drastically improve your event outcomes. NPCF took advantage of the award-winning support provided by OneCause.

As a OneCause customer, the team had year-round access to:

  • Phone support
  • Event consulting
  • A dedicated Customer Success Manager
  • A vast library of knowledge base resources and trainings

“I have purchased a lot of software over the past 14 years, and I never had an experience with a company where they were so willing to help and be there to support our cause, until OneCause. Everyone I interacted with was so willing to help and really wanted to see our event succeed,” explained Williams.

Empowered by the OneCause support team and software, NPCF was ready to crush their event goals.

“It helped me feel at ease knowing that I could call on the day of my event and someone would immediately be there to help. The software was so easy that we didn’t end up needing support, but it gave me peace of mind knowing someone was there,” explained Williams.

The support that NPCF had throughout their event planning and execution made sure they did not need to worry about small details and could focus their efforts on promoting their mission.

Enabling Year-Round Fundraising

Every mission is critical – 365 days a year. That’s why nonprofits, like NPCF, need a tool that will empower their fundraising efforts year-round.

After a successful 5K, NPCF decided to expand their fundraising initiatives. NPCF was presented with two smaller fundraising opportunities. Because of the ease that the platform, they quickly built new campaigns and started fundraising!

“After seeing what the platform could do and how easy it was, we felt invigorated to explore new event types and host multiple events year. These smaller events raised over $11,000 for our mission. We would not have been able to easily turn them around without the OneCause Fundraising Platform,” said Williams.

With the flexibility of the platform, NPCF can seamlessly power multiple fundraisers, big or small, throughout the year – making every day and every dollar count.

Results

Results

With the support of easy-to-use and powerful software, NPCF achieved tremendous success. Check out their never-before-seen results!

  • 133% of total fundraising goal
  • 100% growth from last year’s event
  • $40,000 total proceeds
  • 200+ in-person attendees registered

Ready to learn how your organization can leverage the OneCause Fundraising Platform for your next fundraising event? Request a demo today.

Connect with a Cause

To learn more about National Pancreatic Cancer Foundation, please visit their website.

Wrapping Up!

More fundraising resources are just a click away.

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