Introduction

“It gets better.” This brief, profound phrase has been the beating heart of the It Gets Better Project for more than 10 years. With vibrant original content, transformative youth empowerment programs, grantmaking for schools, free educational materials and more, it reminds millions of LGBTQ+ youth around the globe that they have bright futures ahead of them. 

Over the years, the It Gets Better Project has excelled at engaging donors. Most who give are parents or educators, or self-actualized LGBTQ+ adults — those who know firsthand how important it is to reach LGBTQ+ youth before they are in crisis, and equip them with the skills to safely navigate the world.

So, during a time when LGBTQ+ youth are weathering brutal attacks from hateful legislation, censorship in schools, and rising harassment, it became even more urgent for the It Gets Better Project to mobilize this important audience. By ramping up donor engagement, the It Gets Better Project would be able to reassure donors that there is a refuge out there for their loved ones, and keep funding coming in to sustain its work. 

In this critical moment, the It Gets Better Project came to Mixte looking for fresh ways to tell its story to donors.

Our Objectives

Develop the It Gets Better Project’s 2022 annual report, and create and execute a communications strategy to acquire and engage new, recurring donors.

 

Here’s how we did it:

  • We reveled in research — With listening sessions, close reviews of past It Gets Better Project materials and a healthy dose of our own industry know-how, we took note of where the It Gets Better Project had seen success in past years, and where it had space to innovate. 
  • We pushed the annual report beyond the norm — Rather than rushing through a list of achievements and sharing rote financial statements, we reflected the It Gets Better Project’s unique organizational voice — talking to donors as members of a cherished community, and sharing success stories that showed how the organization puts power back in the hands of the community it belongs to.
  • We developed a year-end fundraising campaign with a powerful central theme — Lots of nonprofits clamor for donors’ attention during the year-end giving season, so we devised a campaign around a powerful central theme (Believe In Better) to ensure the It Gets Better Project’s content would stand out from the crowd as it sought to bring in new, recurring donors. We laid out how all elements of the campaign would tie together with a strong written and visual identity, from social media templates, to web content, to landing page logistics, to emails. Finally, we suggested some ways to extend the campaign’s effectiveness beyond the year-end finish line (more on that below!).
  • We made donations tangible — We worked with the team to devise a set of giving tiers that ensured donors would clearly and quickly be able to see the impact of their gifts. This included showcasing the It Gets Better Project’s 2023 accomplishments in an engaging and creative impact report. Playing off Spotify Wrapped, together we created a vibrant look back at the year through social media posts, email and Instagram Stories.

The Outcome

  • A vibrant new annual report
    • In an engaging, scannable format, with quotes from community members and concise summaries of the myriad ways the organization made an impact in 2022, the annual report drew more positive donor attention. 
    • Downloads of the report increased, and direct feedback from donors lauded it as one of the best reports they’d seen!
  • The Believe in Better campaign
    • The year-end campaign that we designed called donors to Believe in Better for LGBTQ+ youth with:
      • A targeted series of 17 emails sharing stories from It Gets Better Project staff and community members
      • A dedicated landing page to bring in donations, while showcasing donors’ impact and lifting up the voices of the It Gets Better Project community
      • Social media and email graphics to highlight the many ways donations go to work for LGBTQ+ youth, and call donors to action on important days like #GivingTuesday
    • The campaign was a resounding success: It reached its new, recurring donor acquisition goal, and more than 400 supporters chipped in to raise over $100,000 for the organization! 
  • Plus a little extra: A drip email campaign to keep donors engaged
    • We know that building a strong donor base means so much more than the transactional approach of just asking for money. So, we outlined an email series to keep all donors engaged in a more consistent, personal way following the end-of-year fundraising push, and build the goodwill that will encourage them to bring more people into this network of support for LGBTQ+ youth.