32,000
Kids and families served yearly
Introduction
Pittsburgh Kids Foundation’s mission is straightforward: to help kids thrive. Empowering students to change the world is a big undertaking. By partnering with local churches and organizations, they’re reaching kids with the love of Jesus and developing a new generation of Christ-centered leaders.
Founded in 2008 by Dr. Brad Henderson, the non-denominational organization has grown to serve 32,000 people every year. Today, the nonprofit focuses on two key communities: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Cap-Haitien, Haiti.
In Pittsburgh, the focus is on supporting young adults and youth pastors. PKF hosts two wildly popular camps: Surf City and Laurelville Mud Weekends. Hundreds of middle and high school students come together to have fun while connecting with Christ and their peers. This year, demand was so high that they added an extra session, running camps for 8 weekends total. Additionally, the Pittsburgh Kids Network (PKN) has been hosting regular meetings to serve and connect local youth pastors for over 30 years.
In Haiti, PKF is empowering local leaders to address urgent needs, provide quality education, and create jobs. They partner closely with Haitian-led IDADEE, its schools, and the CHIDA hospital to transform local communities. By working together, the organizations are providing affordable care to nearly 10,000 hospital patients annually, safely housing 191 children, and providing free, quality education to almost 500 students.
In 2022, the nonprofit invested $2.3 million in projects and programs directly impacting the lives of kids and their families. Fundraising plays a central role in sustaining their impact. To make it easier for donors to give and stay connected to the cause, PKF turned to Donorbox.
Needing to modernize and consolidate online giving
In 2017, PKF decided to overhaul their online donation process as part of a larger website redesign. Until then, gift designations had been hard to track – donors were jotting them down on checks or writing them in emails. Rodger Obley, who oversaw the project as Creative Director at PKF, shared, “What we had wasn’t sustainable or scalable. We wanted the option to designate money to different projects using one donation processing platform.”
PKF wanted a consolidated platform that created a frictionless donor experience on the front-end, but was also simple to manage on the back-end. Affordability also mattered: 92% of their total budget goes directly to projects and programs, necessitating a lean operating budget.
Finally, tying donations into impact was important. “Helping our donors feel connected to what they're making possible has been a challenge,” explained Rodger. Enhancing donor communication, especially for recurring donors, was a priority.
A simple way to make and designate gifts
After researching options, Rodger and his team decided on Donorbox. “One of the biggest ways that Donorbox has really benefited us as an organization is how easy it is to use. We’re a small team – we have 5 people on our staff – and like every nonprofit, we’re doing a lot with a little. I look for solutions that are secure yet easy to use, and Donorbox fits that balance really well,” he shared.
Pittsburgh Kids Foundation creates a new Donorbox campaign for all of its physical events, one-off campaigns, year-end fundraisers, and even its monthly giving program. Now, donors can designate where their gift is going by using the drop-down menu on the donation form. Enabling QuickDonate™ has sped up the checkout process and brought in $87,000 so far.
With the Mailchimp integration, they’re able to automate donor communications and link contact records. Rodger said: “It’s really nice knowing that when someone donates, they can opt-in to our newsletter to learn more about what they’re making possible. Not having to manually export donor profiles into yet another donor database is super beneficial.”
One of the biggest ways that Donorbox has really benefited us as an organization is how easy it is to use”
- Rodger Obley, Creative Director, Pittsburgh Kids FoundationSetting fundraising records and engaging donors
PKF has raised close to $1 million dollars on Donorbox, but that’s not the only incredible milestone they’re celebrating. Last month, PKF shattered the record for its annual fundraising campaign, Together for Good, bringing in $285,000, which equates to 113% to goal. They creatively use Donorbox to sell Golden Raffle Tickets, collect donations, and even use Events to sell tickets and check registrants into the culminating gala, Together for Good Live.
Another important development is the Dream Team. Pittsburgh Kids Foundation has built a thriving monthly giving program known as the Dream Team. Its members provide consistent support for programs like PKF Camps and IDADEE community development, including children’s homes, schools, the CHIDA Hospital, and safe water projects.
Incorporating Donorbox’s recurring giving features into their website has helped PKF grow a loyal base of supporters with a long haul mentality. In fact, 41% of the total donations they’ve brought in on Donorbox have been from the Dream Team. PKF shares exclusive, behind-the-scenes updates with monthly donors to show how their support is making a real difference.
All told, PKF’s annual impact is tremendous. 30,000 people in Haiti are receiving safe drinking water and sanctuary latrines in partnership with Water Missions. 140 babies were safely delivered at CHIDA hospital. Over 200 churches with youth workers benefit from much-needed support. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Kids are getting the support they need to pursue their dreams.
One surprising discovery? Online donation pages attracted a new type of supporter: individual donors who hadn’t given before. “After a couple of years of using Donorbox, one trend we’ve seen is how accessible it is to collect smaller donations. We’d been missing out on engaging donors that could give $300, $100, or even $25 a month. When we started publishing Donorbox campaigns, it was really easy to grow our donor base and engage those who were able to give a little less than the major gifts we were used to receiving,” explained Rodger.
No matter the type of gift they’re receiving, nor who it’s from, Rodger and his team have a single place to automatically store it all: “Donorbox has made it really easy to granularly track where money is going, how we’re reaching and engaging our donors, and how effective our efforts have been.”
The Future
The goal for the year ahead is sustainable growth. “There’s a lot of excitement around summer camp and fall retreats and we’re seeing a lot of growth. In Haiti, we’re continuing to support teachers, doctors, and others whose salaries are key for continued support. We want to make sure that we’re able to support the projects and community development initiatives that we back for years to come,” Rodger explained.
Recurring donors’ reliable support is one way to ensure sustainability. Donorbox is honored to play a small part in Pittsburgh Kids Foundation success as they continue to make a lasting impact on countless families through Christian values and life-changing services.
Donorbox helps us stay in touch with our monthly donors by subscribing them to our emails. So when something fun and meaningful happens, like the first day of school, we can easily email our segment of recurring donors to show them their impact.
- Rodger Obley, Creative Director, Pittsburgh Kids FoundationDonorbox features used
- Donation Form
- Recurring Donations
- Donation Designations
- Campaigns
- QuickDonate™
- Mailchimp Integration
- Events
