Prompt

Developing a Promotional Message at the EdFirst Foundation

Whos Involved Angela Nguyen, Director of Donor Relations

Scenario Angela Nguyen sighed. She glanced at the statistics for the last quarter. Donations to the EdFirst were down 6 percent. Even worse, donations were down nearly 23 percent from two years ago. The foundation receives about 5 percent of its revenue from program participants, and about 35 percent from federal and state grants, but relies on roughly 60 percent from individual donations. The foundation would need to discontinue critical services if donations didnt increase soon.

The EdFirst Foundation provides mentoring, after-school programs, and other resources for K12 children from lowincome families in inner cities. Any child qualifies for the program who lives in one of the 10 cities where EdFirst operates.Children from families living below the federal poverty level receive all services for free. This accounts for 92 percent of participants in EdFirst programs. Families living above the federal poverty level receive the services at highly discounted rates of between $25 and $75 per year.

The foundation employs fulltime center directors and parttime staff members; however, volunteers perform most of the work. For example, all mentors are volunteers. The average mentor has served for nearly 7 years and volunteered an average of 2.3 hours per week to help struggling students. Volunteers also help with after-school programs held in EdFirst facilities, develop educational materials, and recruit children to join the programs.

Recently, Angela commissioned several third parties to evaluate the foundation's performance. In the first evaluation, an independent evaluator identified how the EdFirst programs were impacting the participants: Reading levels improved by 1.4 grade levels after 6 months of active participation. Reading levels improved by 2.3 grade levels after 1 year of active participation. Math scores improved by 1.9 grade levels after 6 months of active participation. Math scores improved by 2.6 grade levels after 1 year of active participation. High school graduation rates in these areas stood at 43 percent. In these same areas, when an individual had participated for at least one year between the ages of 12 and 18 years old, the graduation rate jumped to 72 percent. The high school graduation rate for individuals who had participated for at least three years between the ages of 12 and 18 years old was 96 percent.

In the second evaluation of the foundation, a separate independent accreditor reported the following: 92 percent of all donations were used directly for the educational programs. In other comparable nonprofit organizations, an average of 78 percent of all donations were used directly for educational programs. 89 percent of EdFirst volunteers had undergraduate degrees, and 38 percent had graduate degrees. 97 percent of parents of EdFirst program participants were extremely satisfied with EdFirst services.

While EdFirst aims to keep expenses as low as possible, it incurs significant costs to rent and own various education centers, to supply textbooks and other curricular materials, to provide transportation to and from its centers for program participants and volunteers, and to run various after-school activities.

Angela was extremely frustrated. With all the good news about the positive impacts on innercity kids and EdFirst's operational efficiency, she realized the foundation would have to cut back services for some kids or even close some centers if donations didnt increase. Based on her calculations, the average cost to support a child in the program for an entire year was just $236.

She decided that she would send a message to prior donors who had not donated in over a year. She would ask them to enroll in the EdFirst Support a Kid program. Enrolling in this program involved a $20 monthly donation.

Your Task Assume you are in charge of sending a message to past donors. Write a message to past donors asking them to join the EdFirst Support a Kid program.