Council for the Homeless Case Study

Fundraising drive for regional nonprofit

Council for the Homeless, a Clark County, Wash., nonprofit, has been working with To the Point Collaborative as its design and communications strategic partner since 2021. Together, we have greatly enhanced the nonprofit’s profile, and its mission to end homelessness, in the Vancouver area.

The Council’s Chief Advancement Officer, Charlene Welch, has been our point of contact throughout this highly productive relationship. A strategic thinker and get-it-done worker, Charlene depends on To the Point to support her many initiatives designed to address ending homeless.

Under her direction, we have produced materials that bring attention to the experiences of unhoused community members, while promoting programs to address their needs. Our multiyear engagement as the Council’s marketing strategist bore many significant results.

Together, we’ve created tailored fundraising strategies for each campaign and implemented them to raise more funds than ever to support Council programs and staff. As a result of our efforts, they’ve been able to add more staff members and buy a new building for their administrative offices.

The method and impact

While grants fund much of its activities, the Council relies on community donations of dollars and supplies to cover any gaps in its funding matrix. By focusing our work on messaging designed to drive fundraising, we’ve helped the Council achieve new levels of revenue generation from events, appeals, and related initiatives.

• We created iconic community events that both educated attendees and asked for, and received, generous financial support.
• We applied the new information we gathered to appeal campaigns and exceeded our goals.
• Our social media strategy attracted hundreds of new Council supporters.
• We used storytelling techniques featuring authentic clients, showing how the Council assisted them in leaving the streets for safe housing.
• We created materials to strengthen internal communications and facilitate public outreach.
• We created training workshops to ensure uniformity and clarity of messaging.
• We brainstormed new events, wrote scripts and runs of show, and developed signage.

As a result of our Council partnership, the nonprofit’s capacity increased and it was finally able to afford its own staff communications director. One of our primary goals is to help clients build internal capacity so they can begin to bring the marketing function in-house. It was a proud moment when the new staff person joined the Council.