Giving Tuesday Appeal Campaign
Mary Baldwin's Virginia Women’s Institute for Leadership (VWIL) is a four-year development program that is home to the nation’s only all-women corps of cadets. To mark the program’s 30th anniversary, I devised and executed a Giving Tuesday appeal campaign that served both as a fundraising effort and as a strategic assessment of community willingness to support Mary Baldwin during a period of institutional crisis. I built targeted audience segments using Raiser's Edge and designed all campaign emails using Canva and Anthology Encompass. Explore each material below to view the communications from the campaign.
This email launched the Giving Tuesday campaign by directly engaging VWIL alumni through shared experience and collective identity. It highlighted the discipline, leadership training, and camaraderie alumni gained through the program, positioning their participation as an opportunity to pay that experience forward. The message emphasized support for both the VWIL Program Fund and Cadet Life Fund while establishing early alumni engagement as a measure of confidence in the program during a period of institutional uncertainty.
Targeted to prior donors, this message opened the day by reinforcing momentum and stewardship. It emphasized the tangible impact of donor support across program operations and cadet life, while acknowledging past generosity and inviting continued investment. The email was structured to assess donor retention and immediate willingness to give during a crisis-affected campaign cycle.
This reminder email re-engaged alumni later in the day by emphasizing urgency and shared responsibility to sustain the VWIL legacy. It encouraged reflection on personal experience within the program and framed giving as a way to ensure future cadets receive the same foundation of leadership and service. Performance from this touchpoint helped evaluate whether repeat exposure and time-of-day targeting increased alumni participation.
Sent in the afternoon, this message reminded previous donors that there was still time to make an impact before Giving Tuesday concluded. It highlighted community momentum and reinforced the role of donor contributions in strengthening both leadership development and daily cadet life. This email served as a key data point in measuring donor responsiveness as urgency increased throughout the day.
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This closing message expressed gratitude to all who supported VWIL on Giving Tuesday, acknowledging the collective impact of gifts to both the Program Fund and Cadet Life Fund. It reinforced donor appreciation while offering a final opportunity for those who had not yet participated to contribute. The email functioned as both stewardship and a concluding measure of community willingness to support VWIL and Mary Baldwin during a critical institutional moment.