YMCA Case Study – Brochure Helps Raise Over $620,000
As the nation’s leading non-profit organization for youth development, social responsibility and healthy living, public support is critical for the Magdalena Ecke Family YMCA. In order to provide exceptional programs, services and outreach, they rely heavily on memberships and fundraisers, making it essential for them to stay top of mind with supporters living in San Diego’s North County communities.
I spoke with Kevin Swed, Design Director at the Y, to find out why they choose Modern to help them reach out to current members and find new ones. We also discussed their use of our Tri-Fold Brochure product and how it helped exceed their recent Annual Giving fundraiser goals. 
What is the objective of your Annual Giving campaign?
Our Annual Giving campaign helps raise funds for our financial aid program which provides over 2,600 children, families and seniors in need with scholarships to the Y. The funds also enable 7,500 children to participate in summer camp and provide free programs to children with special needs, who have been victims of abuse and neglect, as well as children of military families deployed and away from home.
How did you distribute your Annual Giving brochure and who is your core audience?
The staff here at the Y does most of the heavy lifting. They hand out the brochures to new and current members with their business cards stapled to it – they also pass them out to friends and family and even mail them out in an envelope to those interested. Anyone who wanted to invest in the community through the YMCA donated by either mailing in the tear off form along with payment, called, or brought in the brochure while visiting the Y.
What was the response – did it meet your goals/expectations?
It was a success. The use of the brochure and overall efforts to raise funds helped the Y raise well over $620,000 which exceeded our fundraising goals. We were able to easily track the donations back to the brochure since donors had to mail or bring in the tear off form with payment.
What are some pain points you face with promoting fundraising events or membership drives?
Well, 1 out of 4 families are aware of the Y – it’s a challenge to create awareness to the other 3 families who are not familiar with what the Y can do for them or how they can get involved to help other families in need. And on top of that, each YMCA must stay within their territory so that we are not reaching out to communities within other YMCAs.
Also, sometimes we’re under the gun to send out member mailings and registration mailers for our various programs and need access to quick turn around on printing, mailing or list purchases at any given time.
How has Modern helped the YMCA over the years with relieving some of these pain points?
Your mailing lists do a number of things…first of all they are on point, clean and targeted. We sometimes comb through the lists we get from Modern to make sure there are no current members and rarely find a duplicate. Your lists also help us to stay within our territory so we are not crossing over other YMCA communities – we give you the zips and demographics, you find us potential new members.
You offer various product formats that give us options that work best for each of our campaigns. I also like the fact that I can just purchase a mailing list when I need one – no mailing order required.
Why do you choose Modern Postcard as your go to partner for YMCA’s fundraising and member promotions?
I can say from experience that you have reliable service and I like that I can choose how I want to work with you on any project – whether I need hands-on assistance from my account rep or order online when I need to. I choose Modern because of the first-class treatment I get with every order.
More importantly, our campaigns consistently get the responses and support needed to keep the YMCA front and center with our community, which helps us to continue offering the programs and services that nurture and enrich the communities we serve.
By Wendy Batara, Senior Marketing Program Manager, Modern Postcard
Call a Direct Marketing Specialist at 800.959.8365.