$15,000
Raised for financial assistance grants
Introduction
For Founder & Executive Director Stephanie Samolovitch, Young Adult Survivors United’s mission is personal. Just two weeks before her 20th birthday, Stephanie was blindsided with a leukemia diagnosis. Her world was turned upside down. What she quickly realized was that there was no community for younger cancer patients like her to feel heard and understood.
Stephanie hosted her first young adult (YA) support group in Pittsburgh in 2012. In March 2020, she proudly founded Young Adult Survivors United (YASU), a nonprofit that offers emotional, social, and financial support to enhance the quality of lives for cancer survivors ages 18 to 45 and their caregivers. She quickly moved her sessions online as the pandemic put a hold on in-person events.
Since then, the Pittsburgh-based nonprofit has rapidly evolved. Today, YASU hosts an annual young adult cancer camp retreat, golf outing, and Wig Out Halloween party. These sold-out events attract hundreds of survivors, caregivers and co-survivors, donors, and friends from all over Western Pennsylvania. In 2023, the nonprofit awarded $50,000 to assist individuals in financial distress, provided 24 members access to free counseling services, and hosted 82 support group meetings. YASU recently reached a milestone of 1,000 members nationwide.
With the ever-growing need to provide financial and social support to cancer survivors, YASU needed a straightforward way to collect donations. That’s where Donorbox came in.
Needing a fundraising platform with greater flexibility
Initially, YASU chose PayPal as its fundraising platform. However, donors asked for more ways to donate, which didn’t require registering for a PayPal account or could be made in honor of an individual. “It became an inconvenient process for people to the point where I knew it was time to make a change,” said Stephanie. “I wanted a platform that was affordable, user-friendly, and customizable.”
Building custom campaigns
Sidney Kushner, founder of Connecting Champions, who mentored Stephanie in the early stages of launching YASU, recommended Donorbox. After exploring the fundraising platform, Stephanie was sold: “I couldn’t believe Donorbox was free to use. It gave me all the capabilities I needed.” Her favorite part? How easy it is to set up fundraising campaigns. Within minutes she can build a campaign and make the donation form look cohesive with YASU’s website. And most importantly, she can attribute results easily. “When a donation comes in, it’s so easy to track and build reports off of which campaign it supports.”
I couldn’t believe Donorbox was free to use. It gave me all the capabilities I needed. I love being able to build custom campaigns so easily.
- Stephanie Samolovitch, Executive Director, YASUMeasuring campaign results and driving donations
Over the last 18 months, the YASU team has built and launched 6 different cancer fundraising campaigns on Donorbox. The most recent campaign, the Adam Marks Memorial Fund, is a grant for LGBTQ+ youth that honors the legacy of a young, internationally-renowned pianist and educator. Quick campaign setup in Donorbox meant YASU was able to launch the donation page in May and collect a big influx of donations in June during Pride Month. In less than two months, they’ve brought in over $8,000.
Another highly impactful program has been Pittsburgh Oncology Patient Aid, which has brought in over $15,000 in its first year. Oncology nurses proactively partnered with YASU to help ease the massive financial burden of cancer treatments. Because YASU can easily track and attribute donations to this campaign in Donorbox, they’re able to thank donors who give at least $50 by sending them a special t-shirt.
As a fun initiative to raise money for their cause, YASU sold 50 window clings, meeting 100% of their fundraising goal and tracking donors on the platform.
Additionally, YASU has optimized their general donation form by adding donation tiers, a feature that Donorbox offers. For instance, a one-time donation of $25 offers transportation assistance, whereas $100 covers supplies for one wellness workshop. “We’ve had great feedback saying that actually seeing the impact next to the dollar amount really helps.”
The Future
Next year, Stephanie and the YASU team will celebrate their 5th anniversary. With their memberships continuing to grow, they’re encouraging giving by doubling down on successful campaigns and increasing local awareness through partnerships with the Pittsburgh Marathon, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) Hillman Cancer Center, Audacy Pittsburgh, and many others. Donorbox is honored to support YASU’s fundraising campaigns as the organization strengthens and expands an incredibly special community of young adult cancer survivors.
If a donor says it’s going to be an inconvenience to donate, that’s not good. Thankfully, Donorbox has answered all of our questions and has been the answer to our prayers. It has really been a no-brainer.
There’s still a lot for me to learn about what we can do with Donorbox, but it has met all of my needs and then some so far.
- Stephanie Samolovitch, Executive Director, YASUDonorbox features used
- Donation Form
- Recurring Donations
- Suggested Amounts
- In Memory Of Designation
- Campaigns
