Big Fish Foundation boosts giving by 66% in first year with Donorbox to empower veterans

Introduction

Every year, around 200,000 service members leave the US military and abruptly adjust to civilian life. Navigating this transition isn’t easy: many veterans struggle with identity loss and disconnectedness after hanging up their uniform. It often takes a tragedy to reveal how deep their silent struggle is. Sadly, suicide is the second leading cause of death among young adult and middle-aged veterans.

What if you could intervene at the right time and prevent crises? That’s what the Big Fish Foundation sets out to do every day. In 2020, Major Brian “Tosh” Chontosh, USMC (ret.) founded the nonprofit to get ahead of Veteran suicide. After 21 years of military service – during which he was awarded the Navy Cross and two Bronze Stars with Valor for his heroic efforts – Tosh struggled to adjust to civilian life and realized that true healing came from sharing his experiences and vulnerabilities with fellow Veterans.

By hosting curated events, Big Fish Foundation helps Veterans and their families foster lasting connections, grow as individuals, and serve their communities. Participants sign up for reunions, healing workshops, special events, or the annual challenge that Tosh hosts in Boulder, Colorado. Each is carefully designed to push personal limits and show participants how much they’re capable of, especially when they accept a helping hand.

So far, Big Fish Foundation has built their tribe organically through word-of-mouth. Their goal is to double the amount of Veterans served by 2025, going from over 400 today to 650. Tosh has kept the organization’s operating costs lean with 95% of expenditures going directly to programs. But as popularity surges, the nonprofit is starting to seek out new revenue streams to sustain its growth.

Missing an online giving option

At first, spreadsheets and bank records were enough to track individual giving. However, Big Fish Foundation needed a way to accept online donations. Without a CRM, it was hard to cultivate genuine relationships with donors – or investors, as Tosh fondly refers to them – and steward their financial contributions in a way that created trust and respect.

Tosh explained: “We started looking for platforms that didn’t require spending an inordinate amount of money, because that’s money that would be better spent on a program giving back to a Veteran.”

An affordable way to steward investors

Tosh and his team came across Donorbox in 2022. “We tested out Donorbox with a third-party fundraiser and it worked really, really well. So we adopted it as our nonprofit’s primary donation platform, and it’s wonderful,” Tosh shared. 

Now the organization can log offline donations in the platform, whether that’s checks, cash, ACH transfers, or company donation matches. “Everything is right there in Donorbox, so we can sort and run queries and have everything we need,” said Tosh.

Tapping into networks and optimizing pages boosted investments

After one year of using Donorbox, Big Fish Foundation saw a 66% boost in donations. This was not an insignificant amount of money given how efficiently the organization operates. To date, $380,000 processed through Donorbox has gone directly to Veteran support programs. On top of that, Big Fish optimized their online donation form by implementing QuickDonate™, which has contributed to $144,000 in donations.

Big Fish Foundation is taking full advantage of Donorbox’s peer-to-peer (P2P) feature. In two years, the nonprofit has brought in $112,000 from P2P campaigns alone. “Peer-to-peer has been great for us. We like being able to set up multiple different campaigns, run a campaign for a little while, and then archive it, especially for our annual challenge and fundraisers,” said Tosh. He encourages investors to host their own third-party events, where they organize an athletic endeavor in their own community and use a peer-to-peer landing page to collect investments.

This year marked the 5th Annual Challenge, attracting 90 participants and dozens of spectators who were inspired by the grit and fortitude. “These are people who are already winners, but they leave that event taller, feeling better about themselves and inspiring the people around them,” explained Alyssa Neu, Board Member of Big Fish Foundation.

Company matching has also brought in a sizable portion of their funding. Adding Donorbox’s corporate gift matching to the online donation form reminds Big Fish investors to search for their employer to unlock matching opportunities.

With every dollar that comes in, Big Fish makes a tangible impact on the lives of former military service members. By next year, they plan to support 250 Veterans, the most ever. It costs $1,850 on average for a participant to attend a Big Fish event, but each event can spark a life-altering change that prevents a Veteran from attempting self-harm or suicide.

The Future

Exciting things are ahead for the organization. At the top of the list? Finding the perfect spot to build a Big Fish Ranch. Tosh and Alyssa envision the property as a year-round cooperative owned by investors and Veterans. A perfect event venue, the ranch would also offer educational and job placement opportunities to help Veterans with their transition.

Big Fish is getting creative with the ways it solicits investments, from giving circles to grants. They continue to use tools that streamline manual work and bolster fundraising effectiveness. Tosh stated: “Donorbox helps us innovate how we reach out and connect the things that we can do for our community. I don’t foresee ever leaving Donorbox because it is that functional. ”

Donorbox is proud to partner with Big Fish Foundation to enhance Veteran’s lives by fostering accountability through a shared sense of purpose, improving psychological well-being, helping manage post-traumatic and combat stress, and ultimately saving lives.

Donorbox features used

• Donation Form
• Recurring Donations
• QuickDonate™
• Campaigns
• Integrations
• Peer-to-Peer
• Donor Wall
• Donation Progress Meter
• Corporate Gift Matching