Ep. 215: The $16K Fundraising Campaign That Brought in 100+ Donors [Client Case Study]

EPISODE 215

The $16K Fundraising Campaign That Brought in 100+ Donors [Client Case Study]

 
Listen on Apple Podcasts
Listen on Spotify
Listen on YouTube

About the Episode:

Mars Sailors joined my coaching program, The Purpose & Profit Club®, as a graphic designer and marketing manager, not a fundraiser. The work already included telling the story of The Source LGBT+ Center across communications, social media, and email. What changed was learning how to connect those dots to donors.

In this conversation, Mars shares how that mindset shift turned into a first full SPRINT™ campaign: a Give Out Day fundraiser that raised $16,000, exceeded a $15K goal, included a $5,000 match, and brought in 100+ donors.

Mars also shares the story behind the Build to Belong capital campaign, which has raised nearly $700,000 toward a $1 million Phase One goal to secure a permanent home for LGBTQ+ people in California’s Central Valley.

This one is for every communicator, designer, or marketing manager who’s been handed fundraising responsibilities and isn’t sure they belong there. You do.

Topics:

  • How Mars reframed fundraising as a communications discipline, and why the stories he was already telling were halfway to a donor ask

  • The Give Out Day campaign: a $5K match, 100+ donors, and exceeding a $15K goal with a campaign built around "Pride doesn't end in June"

  • What it felt like to send that last email and have two donors independently close the $1,000 gap at the same time

  • The Build to Belong capital campaign: $700K raised, a campus purchased, and belonging framed as infrastructure

  • Fundraising in a politically turbulent climate, and why The Source doubles down instead of going dark

  • Being named a PR Daily finalist alongside Make-A-Wish, Guide Dogs for the Blind, and MD Anderson

Join the Purpose and Profit Club Waitlist

It’s not your stories—it’s how you’re telling them. If your amazing work isn’t getting the attention (and donations) it deserves, it’s time for a messaging shift. The Brave Fundraiser’s Guide guide gives you 10 done-for-you donor prompts to make your message impossible to ignore. Get it for free here! https://christinaedwards.krtra.com/t/xKuLs6tOiPZa

Christina’s Favorite Takeaways:

  • “Our vision is a Central Valley where LGBTQ plus people are valued and celebrated because we believe that any community where LGBTQ plus people are valued and celebrated will make the entire community thrive.” Mars

  • “I tell the donors that their gift is bringing belonging to those marginalized communities.” Mars

  • “It's okay to send 12 emails to keep asking.” Mars

  • “For fundraising, human-to-human is the magic.” Christina

  • “I look forward to the next email that you send convincing me to open my wallet.” The Source Donor

  • “People are motivated by the need.” Mars

  • “Everyone knows everything's doomed. We don't need one more nonprofit screaming we're doomed.” Mars

  • “Donors respond better to less doom and gloom and more supportive.” Mars

“It does not have to be my best work to be good work.”
— Mars Sailors
“I can care deeply without carrying it all.”
— Mars Sailors
 

  • *Links may be affiliate links which means I may earn a commission at no cost to you.



    Christina Edwards  00:03

    All right, y'all. We have a very special guest today. We're going to hear from Mars Sailors. Mars is the marketing and communications manager at The Source. You're going to hear about our work together inside my coaching program, the Club. Some recent huge accomplishments, and I can't wait to share what what you've done behind the scenes and what's coming down the pipeline in the next couple of months. So welcome to the show, Mars. 


    Mars Sailors (he/they) 

    Thank you so much, Christina. Yeah, so my name is Mars Sailors. I use he they pronouns. Like you said, I'm the marketing manager for the Source LGBT Plus Center. Yeah, and I've been in this marketing role for almost two years now, and yeah, I'm super excited to be here. Thank you so much for having me. 


    Christina Edwards

    Thanks for being here. I think the place to start for our listeners is to set set the stage. So tell us about the work that the source does, who you serve, and specifically too about maybe your unique location in the Central Valley and why it might be harder (air quotes) right than fundraising in LA or San Francisco or something like that.


    Mars Sailors (he/they)  01:11

    Yeah, of course. I think our location is definitely a big part of our story. For you know, when most people hear California, they immediately picture beaches and large cities and and very progressive atmospheres, but the Central Valley is very unique in the sense that it is a very rural, conservative agricultural powerhouse. Basically, like we're the breadbasket of America. It's all mostly all farms. And the source we're based in Visalia, California, which is a small city south of Fresno, and we're serving LGBTQ plus people across Tulare, Fresno, and Kings counties. So we are actually now the largest LGBTQ plus center between Los Angeles and Sacramento, which is a very large distance for basically the whole South Valley, there are other orgs doing pieces of similar work. We're not the only resource, but we are certainly the biggest community center for for many miles.


    Christina Edwards  02:12

    Are you from the Central Valley? Are you from Visalia?


    Mars Sailors (he/they)  02:16

    I'm actually not. Okay, where are you from? I'm from. I'm actually from Jacksonville, Florida, and I-I didn't know you were a


    Christina Edwards  02:27

    Floridian.


    Mars Sailors (he/they)  02:28

    I am. I'm a Floridian. I spent the first 15 years of my life in Jacksonville, Florida. Well, couple years in Iceland. You know, military family things. Noted. Most of most of my life was in was in Florida, and we moved to Lamore, which you would have to Google it. Lamore is a very very small rural town, even much smaller than


    Christina Edwards  02:54

    Visalia,


    Mars Sailors (he/they)  02:54

    in Kings County, and there's a Navy base there, and so my father was stationed in Lamore when I turned 15. So you know, naturally in the middle of high school, just had to move across the country. That's fine. That was great. And I just stayed. I mean, my dad retired. I do have a brother who still lives in Florida, but I went to community college in Visalia, and I honestly there was so much about the Central Valley that I fell in love with. We're about an hour to two hour drive from everything beautiful in the world. Like there's mountains right in our backyard. There's beaches not that far. Like yeah, we're like in a very like hot, deserty, like kind of like the climate's very harsh, but the community is wonderful. There is a very like tight knit kind of like solidarity among our community, even though it is very like conservative, and there are like you know concerns about like LGBTQ acceptance, and that's why the source is here in the first place, from growing up in the deep south, I actually I feel much safer here than where I grew up. So I can see how much like worse it could be, and I can also see how much better it could be. Right. So like I'm very inspired by the work that the source has done to improve the lives of LGBTQ plus people in this region. Our mission as the source is to provide supportive spaces for our community to learn, grow, belong, and thrive, which cheekily spells LGBT. And our vision is a Central Valley where LGBTQ plus people are valued and celebrated because we believe that any community where LGBTQ plus people are valued and celebrated will make the entire community thrive.


    Christina Edwards  04:51

    Yep, I I think it's really interesting for everyone to really like hear that too because when I look at your programming, when I look at your social. Media, your email, your content. I'm like, you wouldn't know that you're in an area that may be more conservative or may maybe more rural. Like your program is programming is excellent. It's like it's it's. I wish it was closer to me. I want to come to some of the. I want to come to some of the events, right? And so I hope today some of our listeners will take away that, like, if you can do it, they can too. Wherever they are, you know, even if you're up against maybe a community that is a little more conservative or a community that's different from what your your cause area is doing. Yeah, I want to talk a bit about when you first joined the club. Fundraising wasn't really in your background. You have some of my favorite designs. You are an incredible designer. You really come with that marketing and communications lens. And you mentioned you were a little out of your comfort zone running campaigns. So, what has changed since starting in the club and really running an active fundraising campaign, what that looks like. How has that changed for you?


    Mars Sailors (he/they)  06:06

    I think it was a big like lens shift from you know my understanding was that like nonprofits are kind of always passively fundraising and just trying to you know ask for money whenever they can and whenever it seems natural. So this idea that there are like active campaign windows where you are, you know, sprinting to and making it very clear that like we are actively fundraising versus when we're not was super helpful, and I am starting to see like fundraising less of like a separate segmented department in my brain, and more of like a communications discipline, like identifying the need, making it understandable, showing what changes, and invite the action, turning the ask into story, and so much of that already existed. Like we, like you were mentioning for our programs, you know, we have a sexual health clinic that provides HIV testing and prevention. We do free mental health support. We do youth programming, transgender resources, so much stuff, right? And I'm already doing all of that messaging for the community to know that these resources exist. I'm, you know, trying to get this message into the hands of the transgender people who need it? Yeah, the people who need these testing, right? So if those messages already exist from the lens of the community that needs it, shifting it slightly to the donors to support those people wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. If I'm already telling trans folks you belong here by advertising free peer support groups, I can also tell the donors that their gift is bringing belonging to those marginalized communities.


    Christina Edwards  07:45

    This is huge. Like connecting the dots of the stories you're telling. Again, all of about your programming, about the people who are attending your programs, attending services, things like that. Connecting the dots to the donors, it sounds simple, and in some ways, it is simple, but it's different. It's different than a lot of nonprofits. A lot of nonprofits are we silo out fundraising over here, and we silo out marketing and comms. And I love that you just said something really important, which is y'all are probably have your stories over here anyway. Bring them over and connect those dots for the donors. Bring them over and kind of bridge, make that bridge for the donors. That's such an important learning and such an important skill that now you've connected. I think it's really easy to just stay in your lane and just be like, I'm, I'm going to hang out in design. I'm going to hang out in in coms. But that you've seen it as a discipline, I love, I love that. That's like a mindset change.


    Mars Sailors (he/they)  08:43

    It really is. I mean, yeah, purpose and profit has like really like been. It's it's funny because when I was like reading through all of your documents and and going through the course, I was, I kept thinking like, oh, that's something I kind of already know, right? It's all pieces of things that I know already, but seeing it all laid out as like a plan, it was it was more of a mindset change than like skill learning. Like I I know how to make a story and I know how to weave these things together and to build an email campaign. Like I've done it before, but like hearing that like it's okay to send like 12 emails, like just keep asking, and just make it different. You know, like don't say the same thing over and over. But like it's okay to keep asking and to keep telling the story. I think it. I just needed to hear that like it was a it was okay to you know hit the gas to yeah to hit the gas exactly, exactly. Like, and I have


    Christina Edwards  09:42

    noticed your voice has opened in your emails because you were writing emails. You were doing that already. Again, you had a great communications strategy in place, but we took that through the lens of fundraising, so it became a fundraising strategy. As well, and part of that is bringing in. We want to know Mars. We want to know the people behind the organization in the organization. And I've seen little like you leave us little nuggets. No, you leave us little musings, little moments of of your personality. And I think that that has been for me something I've noticed in you as like a before and after is getting to to know you, getting to know the voices inside your organization. It's really easy to just speak as the ominous organization, and that has a place. But for fundraising, human to human, person to person, that's the magic.


    Mars Sailors (he/they)  10:37

    You know, it's so funny that you say that. I was actually cleaning up my personal email inbox yesterday, which was you know 1000s of emails that I've let get crazy, and so I'm seeing all of my own marketing stuff as I'm like going through all of this, and I found one of the first emails that I had sent in this role, and it was in 2020, like early 2024, maybe, and it wasn't bad by any means. But like, I immediately saw. I was like, "This is signed from the source, not from Mars. There's no like PS message. There's no. It's very like bare bones. Like, there's some cute graphics in it, but it's not. There's not really much personality, and I could see that I was afraid, like I was afraid to put myself in it. Yeah, and there's like a bit of imposter syndrome going on there. There's a little bit of a learning curve. You know, there's feelings of like if I put too much of myself in this, then it's going to take away from the brand image. But now I'm much more confident in in writing that line of like how much of this is the source, how much of this is Mars? Because you know, at the end of the day, at the end of our newsletter, it is signed off from me as the marketing communications manager. That's right. I think it's my it's my responsibility to filter the source's voice in a way that is personable, in in a way that is both like responsible to the org's image, but also sounds human, and and is something that people can actually connect with and want to respond to. And we actually do get like response to our to our newsletters. Like even just there's someone who always just replies with a heart emoji every single month. It's very cute. 


    Christina

    Oh my gosh, I love that. Oh, that's so sweet. And then you told me about another response you got from a donor. I wrote it in my notes saying yes. She said she was waiting for you to for your next email to tell her to open her wallet. Was that it? Yeah, I get it right. 


    Mars

    Yeah, she so she had never donated before. She donated $25 to our give out day campaign, which I definitely want to touch on because that was totally purpose and profits. Like my my first full sprint that I completed first from beginning to end, and she came by to pick up some artwork because I had done a live stream where I added donor names to to the artwork, and so she came by to grab some of those and to get a tour. She'd never even been to the Source before, and you'd be surprised how many of our donors haven't actually come through our doors. They just hear about us through X, Y, or Z. And so I gave her a tour. And as she was leaving, she said something along the lines of: "First, she said something like, 'I haven't seen, um, uh, I haven't ever been so inspired to like give from like a campaign like that, and just kind of gave me kudos about like my messaging and things. And then, what really stuck with me though is is what you said when she left. She said, "I look forward to the next email that you send convincing me to open my wallet, which was huge. Like so, I don't know. I think can you? That's exactly what every fundraiser wants to hear. I was about to say,


    Christina Edwards  13:43

    can you imagine if, like, we thought instead of all the negative things we think right before we make a call, send an email, whatever it is, make the ask, if we thought instead this donor is waiting for me to come ask them for money, like what? Like that's what she said. That's what she said. that's a big shift you can kind of bring with you as you're getting ready for your next campaign,


    Mars Sailors (he/they)  14:12

    right? And it's it's definitely made me more confident about bigger asks as well. Like you know, because Give Out Day was. I mean, we had a few big donors, $1,000 plus donors, but a lot of it was several people giving 10,15, $25. And like I said, she gave $25, and she did say like, "I'm increasing the budget next year to to be able to give more. And so then I was able to tell her about our capital campaign. I was like, well, you know, I look forward to seeing you for Give Out Day next year. But also, if you want to, you know, get more involved, there there are there are naming opportunities on our campus. And X Y Z gave her the packet. It was was so natural. I didn't feel like I was like, you know, hustling. You know, I felt like it was a conversation, and and it was. Shared interest.


    Christina Edwards  15:02

    Let's dig into Give Out Day. So you mentioned it was the smoothest campaign you've really run, and it sounds like it was a real turning point. So tell us about Give Out Day and what clicked for that campaign.


    Mars Sailors (he/they)  15:16

    Yeah. So Give Out Day is a national day of giving specifically for LGBTQ plus causes, so not just nonprofits. There's like there's a bunch of different qualifying organizations that can participate, and it's run by Mighty Cause. And so basically, it's kind of a month long campaign. But like give out day itself is at the beginning of June, and fundraising is supposed to go out through the whole month. And I remember when I told you that you were like, "Ooh, that's a bit of a long sprint. So I had to, you know, modify the the yeah template a little bit. Think about how we're gonna


    Christina Edwards  15:55

    stretch it out, yeah, and not and not tire out the audience, right?


    Mars Sailors (he/they)  16:00

    Exactly, and so this campaign, I decided to lean in. Like all of our fundraising this year has been centered around our 10 year anniversary. The Source was founded in 2016, and now in 2026 it is 10 years. So for Give Out Day, the campaign title was "Give Out for the next 10 to encourage people to. If you give out now, you're supporting the next decade of care. And then the anchor line was because pride doesn't end in June, and so the whole storytelling aspect was centered around moving past seasonal visibility that is so prominent in June, and focusing more on like that queer young person who's looking for community in August, or someone newly diagnosed with HIV in whatever month, right? Like who needs affirming care, and that like these needs don't go away when June ends. And by supporting us during June, you are like helping foster this belonging in this community for the next decade, right? And we secured a $5,000 matching gift, which was huge. That was our big momentum booster, and we were able to surpass our goal. Our goal was $15,000, and we raised a total of 16,000, but with just over 100 donors.


    Christina Edwards  17:26

    Amazing, amazing! Congratulations! And it felt. How did it feel running that campaign?


    Mars Sailors (he/they)  17:34

    Oh, it was. I was like vacillating. I think between like super excited and proud, and then like terrified that we weren't gonna meet the goal because because like when you put a lot of effort and soul into something you you wanted to pay you want yeah I wanted that victory lap to be a we did it you know and so the closer we were getting to that deadline and we still had that $1,000 gap I was I was starting to sweat a little bit, and then I sent like,


    Christina Edwards  18:03

    It means you're doing this work when you're vacillating between the two. Like you're in it, you're doing it. Keep going.


    Mars Sailors (he/they)  18:12

    So I sent. I would have to refresh which email exactly, but I had sent like, it all. It almost like I was a little worried about this last email, like it almost felt like begging, but not quite. I was like, you know, really writing that line of like, guys, we're so close, like please. But I, you know, our our CEO loved it. Every like we got so much positive feedback about the messaging. And then the that morning when I sent it out, within like two three hours, I get a call from a donor who has donated a lot of money to us in the past. Who is like, I'm gonna write a check for the last $1,000, and I'm gonna bring it back. I'm gonna bring it to you like this afternoon. And then while that was happening, somebody else donated the $1,000 online.


    Christina Edwards  18:59

    Oh my god!


    Mars Sailors (he/they)  19:00

    So we had the $1,000 gap. We had two donors at the same time say, "I'm gonna close this gap personally, and that's how we ended up with 16,000 instead of our 15,000 goal. Was so


    Christina Edwards  19:13

    I want to offer a few things. I've talked about this a lot in my coaching before, but I am that type of donor. Like I can't stand it when y'all are like 92% at your goal. Do you know what I mean? When there's just that little spigeon left, I think generally it's it's the type of person who's competitive, right? Who's like, well, we got to win. It's like a little bit of that mentality, which I'm like, we gotta we gotta hit the goal. So I love that you called in with a scalable solution, which was just an email. You sent out an email, and that like scratched the itch of two people who are also like me. You were like, "Well, I want to close the gap. No, I'm gonna, and they don't even know that the other person's closing the gap, right? So I just congratulations, kudos. Like that is this work. It's it's straddling. Between feeling like, oh my God, are we going to hit the goal? Is this too much? While also being like, this is awesome. We're doing it. This matters so deeply for the next 10. Like I'm going to keep going. Like that's that's you are now a fundraiser. Like it's happened, Mars. 


    Mars Sailors (he/they)  20:19

    the imposter syndrome has been lifted. I this campaign has truly like it's solidified in my brain that like we I can do this like we can do this and I'm I'm much more confident in my ability to to to run a campaign.


    Christina Edwards  20:36

    Yeah, I'm curious as we kind of talk about fundraising and communications and your role. So as you now think about your role of communications and marketing, and you have design as well, how does fundraising then fit in with this this kind of identity, this makeup of like what you do, whether it's each day or each week, what's what's maybe changed in your approach?


    Mars Sailors (he/they)  21:04

    I think what's what the main major change, and I think I've already touched on this a little bit, is like the concept of active versus passive fundraising. Yes. Okay. I think I was really just in the mindset of like you know whenever we have events or we're putting in a newsletter, like to just plug a donation, like you know, kind of casually remind people that like we need their support, and that's great. It's great to have that passively all the time. We never want to close that door, but like this idea that like there are active windows where you need to just ask, ask, ask, and like build out this story campaign. And I'm already like thinking about Giving Tuesday this year, and I'm thinking about our gala and how to wrap it all up. And and that I'm thinking about what we did for Giving Tuesday last year, and how we didn't quite meet the goal for Giving Tuesday last year, and it it was okay because we, you know, a lot of that is wrapped up in our annual gala. We more than like we raised well over our our goal for our gala, which that is more important to us than than Giving Tuesday. But now I'm like, well, why are those two separate? Like, why why are those two separate campaigns when they can be one fluid camp? Like, I'm already thinking logically better about like how this fundraising aspect is going to fit into our event marketing and in our communications for like the public. So yeah, it's it's definitely it's just a mindset shift, and it's it's helping me like stay organized. I think in a in a new way.


    Christina Edwards  22:39

    I love it. Do you work with your director of development differently, or what does that look like now? As far as, hey, I have an idea for Giving Tuesday, or I'm kind of thinking about year end in this way, or sometimes I feel like I probably did it with you, where I'm like, can you talk to your director of development? Go get us a match for this. Like, what does that look like now? Of sort of who's owning what,


    Mars Sailors (he/they)  23:06

    right? I think I think that there's a lot of trust now. At least I feel like he has a lot of trust in my ability to, um, to to do what I feel is right in the moment to you know get the result, especially now after after Give Out Day, he really he really let me run with it. Especially, I mean, like him, my Nick Vargas, our director of development strategy, and our CEO Brian Poth signed signed me up for Purpose and Profit. I didn't meet with you before we were signed on. So you know, I think that they were putting a lot of trust in this program, and also like trust in me to learn from it. And so when I, you know, told Nick, I'm like, I learned a lot, and I'm going to run with it for Give Out Day, and it was an astounding success. We had nothing but positive feedback from the messaging. We, you know, our CEO loved it, and I think that now that that success story has happened, there's there's established trust in in this process of like creative fundraising, and and I mean, of course, everything goes through approvals, and you know, we're we're a team. It's not you know just it's not just me, but there there definitely is a lot of trust in my ability to run with the story, I think, will work.


    Christina Edwards  24:24

    I do see that trust that if you come to a call and we have an idea, that you are able to get the support that they trust you to run with it, and it's not met with a ooh, that's really different, or ooh, that's not that's not what we usually do, or I don't know. And so that is part of your organizational organization success. Here is how your CEO and how your director of development trusts you in the strategy and in the implementation. So I agree. Like kudos to them as well. I want to shift into the build to belong campaign. So this is your first. Capital campaign, you've hit a huge milestone, which I'll let you share, and you've been named a finalist for PR Daily's nonprofit communications award. So, wow! Let's talk about it. Tell us about Building Round.


    Mars Sailors (he/they)  25:17

    Yeah, you know what? And I think it's it's a great pivot because we were just talking about trust, and when I got an email from PR Daily about their communications awards, I actually got an email for their corporate corporate communications awards, and I was like, "Well, it doesn't really not a good fit, right? But I just started digging on their website, and I had and I found the nonprofit. I was like, "Oh, there is one for nonprofits. That's awesome, and so when I you know did some research and and approached Nick about maybe applying for it, yeah, it was you know not a cheap entry, you know it was you know a few $100 for one entry, and I'm seeing these huge nonprofits submit into like every category, right? And I'm like, God, that's 1000s of dollars that they're that they're pouring into this. We really only had the budget for like one entry, so I had to really make it count. But Nick had the trust in in me to say, "Yeah, you know what? Let's let's go let's go for it. I if you think that this is going to be worth it, then I'm I'm willing to put the the budget towards this entry, and you know I worked really hard on submitting our capital campaign, Build to Belong.


    Christina Edwards  26:28

    Yeah,


    Mars Sailors (he/they)  26:28

    it's a multi-phase capital campaign with the goal to secure a permanent, safe, affirming home for LGBT people in the Central Valley. So I submitted our capital campaign. Months went by, and then we got the email that we're finalists, and now I'm going to New York at the end of September to represent the source. And we're like up there with some really big dogs. Yep. So other finalists, we're in the fundraising category, which is a very what's the word? Competitive category. We are finalists with Make a Wish America, Guide Dogs for the Blind, and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Which I yeah, when I saw the other names on there, I was like, whoa, you know, Cancer dogs for the blind make a wish. Oh my god! Like so, but I think you have said before, like you know, you deserve to be up there and and


    Christina Edwards  27:29

    100%


    Mars Sailors (he/they)  27:31

    And I'm I'm really trying to like really let that sink in and and and set that like this this campaign is something that I really believe in, and I think that my faith in it and my like passion for it came through in my entry as well. Like I wrote, I wrote an essay about it. Yeah, I submitted every asset I could scrounge up under the sun from this campaign, and yeah, and it and it got us


    Christina Edwards  28:01

    in. It's there is I think a liminal space when you have an up level in identity where you're like, wait, do we belong here with all of these names? Who me? I am yes, yes. And there's there is like a moment where I think you again kind of step between that version over there of you, that's a finalist on the stage, and then this version that before you were a finalist, where you kind of teeter between the two. And I'm so excited for you to like fully own this version, where it's like, hell yeah, you belong on that stage, 100. You know, I went through the application and I was like, oh my god, it's so good. It's so good. So I'm like, of course you're a finalist. It's it's of course. Let's talk a little bit more about Build to Belong. So where are you in the campaign? And share with us a big milestone.


    Mars Sailors (he/they)  28:54

    Yeah. So phase one, like I said, it's a multi it's a multi phase campaign, a $3 million total campaign. Yeah. $1 million for each phase, so phase one is all centered around our campus and Visalia. The first million dollars was to purchase the campus and to create essential renovations, accessibility renovations, a new AC unit, that type of thing. And in June of this year, we were able to announce to our community that we bought the campus. We completed our mortgage. We did our balloon payment, and we were able to secure our campus in Visalia as a permanent home for LGBTQ plus people in the Central Valley forever, generations to come. Long after our current staff has moved on, and we hopefully the Source will continue to thrive for decades. And I mean, I can't think of a more beautiful way to celebrate our 10 year anniversary than to say like this: this home is here forever. We're still in phase one. We've raised over 600,000, almost. $700,000. It's incredible. Million.


    Christina Edwards  30:03

    It's that's incredible. Yeah,


    Mars Sailors (he/they)  30:04

    I'm so proud of our team. We and our community.


    Christina Edwards  30:10

    Yeah,


    Mars Sailors (he/they)  30:10

    I don't want to misspeak. I think at least like the bulk of that, like 600 plus 1000 of that, was raised by only 40 some donors. Wow! Wow! So we had some huge contributors that really believed in this mission, and donor stewardship has been a big part of this process as well. Like we sent these really elaborate thank you boxes that I had a fantastic time designing, and we wanted to make sure we invite we invite them to our events and make sure that like they are seeing the work that that's being done and and that they're they're helping building right. A lot of this campaign, the communication strategy, I've intentionally avoided presenting this as like a facilities project, even though like logically that's what it is. But the central idea was like belonging as infrastructure, and that like by investing in this permanent home, you're investing in care, safety, visibility, community continuity. Yeah, belonging, right? And that that goes straight back to the source's mission, which is to provide supportive spaces for people to learn, belong, thrive, right? And so, yeah, it all it all ties back to that. I'll briefly touch on the other two phases. Yeah. So phase two, another million dollars aims to take our sexual health services clinic and move them off-site into their own building, so they're going to get their own free clinic that can hopefully expand services to include to include like primary care down the line and other things, right? So right now we're really only doing as I say only we do a lot, but we're doing STI testing, HIV prevention, case management for people living with HIV, and we're and it's a small, it's a little small clinic. Like if you were to see it, like there's like it's like two offices in like one little waiting room, and like that's our clinic. And but we do so much out of that little space, and so phase two aims to make that its own healthcare facility, and so that they have room to grow and expand their team. And then phase three is the big dream. We want to create an endowment specifically for LGBTQ plus people, so that will not only help fund the source in in continuity, but other nonprofits like we hope to, you know, be able to give back to the community and and foster other grassroots efforts.


    Christina Edwards  32:49

    I just keep thinking about the word belonging for me and the word legacy. I think the two are really connected, and in this capital campaign is the legacy that the organization is creating the legacy that the donors get to be a part of, like co-creating with you. That it will, this place will be here for a very long time, forever, hopefully, right? And I think that's going to be a big part of it. And the fact that a small amount of donors were able to fund such a significant amount of funding just makes me excited because I'm like, listen, if we were able to do that with this this pool of donors, and we've you've just gotten started, you've just gotten started. There's so much more potential to hit the phase two and phase three. I want to speak to maybe this is like a mindset inside your organization. I want to just kind of call out. It would have been easy to be like, "Listen, it's a really hard time right now for organizations like ours. Like they're cutting funding. It's just so hard to fundraise. Like it's just a chaotic, toxic time politically. Right? It would be easy to say we can't, we can't right now, and have paused the capital campaign or done something else. But I love that you went in. You doubled down. Was that a conversation you had as a team, as a staff, as an organization, of like, yes, the funding has been cut. Yes, there is a lot against us right now. If for me, I'm like, that's all the more reason to do it. But I'm curious what the mindset was like inside your organization.


    Mars Sailors (he/they)  34:34

    Yeah, I mean, the current political landscape has been a huge piece of our like considerations when it comes to communications this year and the last the last couple of years really, and you know there the the idea of pausing the capital campaign was never on the table. It was more of like how how are we going to navigate it, right? Like how. And even how can we use it to get people motivated? Yeah, because I think right now the people with capacity are are seeing the negative effects of of that's right. You know X Y Z. I could go on the list, but I don't need to go on the laundry list of all the things that are happening right now. But you know everybody sees it, and so when you know an LGBT org that they already believe in because we've been here for 10 years and we've been fostering community says like you know our our sponsorships have been like gutted this year yeah or like one of our biggest Presenting sponsors for Pride by Celia, who had sponsored us for the last several years, didn't pay us this year or last year. They just completely pulled the plug because their corporate said that we're not supporting LGBT causes anymore, and that wasn't the fault of their like liaison who said yes to us? That was you know way above their head, and so like yeah, these things are are affecting us on the ground level. We are we are experiencing a major dip in like the the bigger corporate sponsorships, right? Yep. But when it comes to community support, when it comes to like on the ground, like you know people, I don't. I don't think that support has dipped all that much. I think that even though yes, financial times are hard for people, I think that people are are motivated by the need by like they they don't want to see the source go away. I think that you know nobody wants to see Pride by Celia go away. Nobody wants to see one less resource for an already underserved community. Yeah, and so you know, I as a communicator, I don't want to push the red the big red button often where it's like we're in danger and we need help. Like that's not our communication strategy like at all. Yeah, we really only save that for not even for fundraising, but for like call to actions for like calling your senator. Sure thing. Yeah, that that that's that's the we've done like messaging like this is really important. Like yes, you know the nine round like advocacy, right? Yeah. But when it comes to fundraising, I think that it's it's much less draining on our donors to instead like remind them of all of the good that's happening, so that it can feel like a refresher from all the negative, right? Like everyone's scrolling through social media and like everyone knows everything's doomed. Like we see that all the time. We don't need one more nonprofit screaming we're doomed. So I think having a focus on like no, like look look at all these people we're helping. Like look at like this is what I'm getting we're serving


    Christina Edwards  37:50

    yes from your communications is I'm like damn why am I not closer I want to come hang out like that's look at what they're doing and so you're you are doing that really well because I think you can't go to the well of you know 911 anything too many times and also it is not inspiring it is not part of the vision that your donors want so I I think that is an answer that's the answer to my question on like how you think about how your organization has that mindset of like, yeah, we all know what's going on right now, and here's what we're able to do, and we're not stopping, and here's the proof of what we're doing works, and yeah, right. I find it


    Mars Sailors (he/they)  38:33

    more helpful to like hint at the doom rather than like focus on it, right? Like maybe I throw in a sentence that's like, sure, you know, a reminder of the current political answer. Sure, like despite the hardships that our community is facing, and like leaving it vague, leaving it like a reminder so that they can bring up, they can draw their own conclusions about what that means, right? Fill in the blank. But the main focus of the message is like, but we are here for you. Like, like when I'm immediately thinking about our our messaging around the election, like the last presidential election, and we have put out a statement that is like we're not going anywhere, and like our doors are open, and we actually had like 20 people just come to hang out in our community center that day because they just needed community. They needed to feel supported, and sometimes I think about about that when when like everything is feeling really doom and gloom, and I'm like wanting to push that red button. I'm like, wait a minute, but like what what actually gets people through the door and what actually gets people to donate is more along the lines of like, but we're still here and we have resources for you and and like look at all of look at all the good, right? I think yeah, I think that donors especially respond better to to less less doom doom and gloom and more more supportive, right? Like. Yeah, highlight a highlight on on the wins.


    Christina Edwards  40:03

    Exactly. I think you you've done that really really well. I can't believe it's this has already like flown by. Before I ask my final question, I want to just check in. Is there anything that you wanted to share that we didn't already hit on today?


    Mars Sailors (he/they)  40:20

    Well, we've already hit on it, but I'll just reiterate: wish us luck on september 30 at the PR Daily Nonprofit Awards, and Pride Visalia this year is on october 17. We'll be filling Rawhide Ballpark up with over 2000 people, lots of vendors. Anyone in the Central Valley area want to come check it out. We would love to see you there, and yeah, I'm ready for the final question.


    Christina Edwards  40:46

    Awesome. So we ask all of our guests if they would share a thought they like to think on purpose. So this could be a quote, a mantra, an affirmation. Will you share one with our listeners?


    Mars Sailors (he/they)  40:59

    Sure. I actually have two. Is that okay?


    Christina Edwards  41:01

    Great. Yes.


    Mars Sailors (he/they)  41:02

    So the first one is, it does not have to be my best work to be good work, and I have to remind myself that often because I'm such a perfectionist. Ooh, that's good. In my graphic design, that and and I and I see that sometimes when I when I send a campaign or I make a post that I'm not like the most proud of it, but it gets positive comments, and or it gets a good response, or it gets people to click on it. I'm like, oh, it doesn't have to be my best work to be good work.


    Christina Edwards  41:30

    That's right. And


    Mars Sailors (he/they)  41:31

    then the second one is I can care deeply without carrying


    Christina Edwards  41:36

    it all. Ooh, that's good.


    Mars Sailors (he/they)  41:38

    Relying on my team, relying on my loved ones and my personal life, whatever it is, I I'm I don't know if you care about Zodiac, but I'm a I'm a double Cancer. I'm Cancer rising, and I'm a Cancer. You're a Cancer. It was Cancer season not that long ago. Oh


    Christina Edwards  41:55

    my God! Are you also a homebody? Do you also love cozy time inside? I


    Mars Sailors (he/they)  42:00

    do. I do. I love to be home. It's very. I'm I'm a social butterfly, but I would much prefer to be


    Christina Edwards  42:06

    home. Okay, all right.


    Mars Sailors (he/they)  42:08

    But I I care so deeply about everything all the time that it can be like a big weight on my shoulders, right? Yeah. I'm I'm put and I'm putting it there. So I have to remind myself that like I can care as deeply as I as I feel without literally putting the weight of all of it on my shoulders.


    Christina Edwards  42:28

    I'm gonna take that one. Those are those are two really good ones.


    Mars Sailors (he/they)  42:32

    I thought hard about it. I thought hard


    Christina Edwards  42:33

    about it. Where can everyone connect with the Source? Tell us, and we'll also include it in the show notes as well.


    Mars Sailors (he/they)  42:41

    Of course. So we do have a website, thesourcelgbt.org. On social media, you can find us on Instagram at thesourcelgpt, and then on Facebook, the source LGBT plus center.


    Christina Edwards  42:52

    Awesome. Thank you so much, Mars. And I, we've got a link to the Give Out Day that that design you made. We'll include that. So I'll make sure we include that in the show notes because you can get a taste of your incredible work in in the podcast show notes as well. Thanks so much for well. If anyone


    Mars Sailors (he/they)  43:10

    wants physical copies and they happen to be in the Central Valley area, please come by our community center. We have we have free artwork available, so just come grab


    Christina Edwards  43:20

    one. Awesome! Thanks so much, Mars.


    Mars Sailors (he/they)  43:22

    Thank you, Christina.

You Get To Have Purpose And Profit. I’ll Show You How.

 
 
PodcastChristina Edwardspurpose and profit, marketing, entrepreneurship, purpose driven, nonprofit, social impact, mindset, productivityComment