YMCA of San Diego County Activates True Community Fundraising and Unlocks $8.4M

Building a Community of YMCA Advocates

Each of the YMCA of San Diego County’s fourteen locations participates in the Annual Campaign, a peer-to-peer fundraiser that rallies support around the county’s highest-need communities. 

To ensure the success of the Annual Campaign and raise more money each year, the YMCA of San Diego County has fostered a culture of philanthropy by weaving the campaign into each of its programs. To meet this ambitious goal year-over-year, the organization relies on its biggest advocates, including program participants and families who are passionate about the mission and actively rally others to join them.

Each YMCA champion acts as a Chief Community Officer. They identify top advocates and individuals who believe in the mission, introduce them to each other, and utilize user-friendly tools like Classy to activate the community. 

Last year, the YMCA of San Diego County raised over $8.4M for its Annual Campaign (an 11% increase from the previous year), which ensures access for all programs at the Y regardless of pay. 

Using Classy as a Tool for Community-Building

The YMCA of San Diego County team coaches its advocates on using Classy to set up their fundraising page and demonstrate progress to inspire their networks. Supporters can choose the program they want to support, from sending kids to camp to gymnastics programs, life-saving swimming lessons, access to child care, transitional housing, and much more.

True community thrives when people share a common interest and have ways to communicate with each other. The YMCA of San Diego County team reminds supporters that the real reward of the Annual Campaign is the act of giving itself. With Classy, supporters can showcase goal achievement and donor stats and celebrate beyond the dollars raised. The ease of fundraising and the power of community are why a majority of fundraisers return each year.

Personalizing the Giving Experience and Saving Time on Admin Tasks

For this year’s Annual Campaign, the YMCA of San Diego County team is approaching things a little differently. Instead of one main campaign, each of the YMCA of San Diego County’s branch locations, social services, and overnight camps will have its own campaign. This will help the data flow seamlessly from Classy into the YMCA of San Diego County’s new CRM, Salesforce, but also allow each location to further personalize its supporters’ giving experiences.

All gifts go to individual YMCA of San Diego County locations and programs. For example, a supporter might be more inclined to give to the aquatics program at the Mission Valley YMCA, which is in their neighborhood. The YMCA team can easily allocate that donation to the correct fundraiser and/or program the donor is excited to give to.

Creating separate campaigns for each YMCA location in San Diego County might seem like a daunting task, but with Classy’s templating functionality, the YMCA of San Diego County team streamlined this process by creating a single campaign. From that campaign, the team was able to duplicate it for each location, customizing the name, hero image, and programs for each branch. This saved the team time cross-checking all of the backend settings so they could focus on creating the best giving experience.