Louisiana Methodist Children's Home

Ruston, Louisiana

Challenge: Raise needed funds for new facilities

When the Louisiana Methodist Children's Home celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2002, the year leading up to the occasion proved to be an opportune time to assess the organization's ability to meet its expected future needs.

At the top of its list were expanding facilities at its Outdoor Wilderness Learning center and a new building for its Changing Attitudes and Behaviors (CAB) program, which helps rehabilitate children with severe behavior and adjustment issues. 

"Our CAB program has evolved into a very successful approach to working with these very special children," explained president and CEO Terrel DeVille. "But we couldn't address their needs as effectively in a traditionally designed building."

Tasks: Design and manage first-ever capital campaign

Though it had served children and families from across the state for decades, the Home had never held a formal fundraising campaign of any kind. For guidance it turned to Generis, whose consultant Ty Herring helped the organization assess its base of potential donors and design a campaign with the flexibility to meet its unique needs.

With our help, the Home designed an inclusive campaign that reached out to donors large and small, which helped the organization develop ongoing relationships with its donors that continue to this day.

Solution: New buildings, and a new approach to fundraising

Thanks to the success of its 2002 campaign, the Home met its goal of raising $3 million and its new facilities are now complete and in active use today. "We were able to realize about 99 percent of our pledges, and have instituted an ongoing major gift approach based on how we modified our campaign," said DeVille.

That approach has yielded results far beyond the original goals. In 2005 -- three years after their first campaign -- the Home received gifts from a pair of large donors totaling $6.2 million. "We have continued to benefit from larger major givers from the first time we were put on their radar," he added.

Individualized Guidance

By working with our consultants, the Home has gained a greater understanding of how to communicate with its donors and constituents, and how to raise awareness about its mission, goals and vision for the future.

"It's enabled us to speed up our strategic plan to be more available to more families and children," said DeVille. "We are certainly more effective because of the added resources that we have. There is now a greater appreciation for what we're about, and as a result, I think it's strengthened our future."