Engagement at a Glance Snapshot
Our Brother’s Keeper (OBK) is a 24/7, year-round shelter in Big Rapids, Michigan, with powerful programs and a lean team. Through a partnership with Capital for Compassion, we created a Strategic Marketing + Fundraising Plan to help them tell their story more clearly and fund the work more simply. A few of the outcomes:
- A clear brand message for four audiences: donors, guests, partners, and neighbors
- A “More than a shelter” tagline and a homepage organized around their core programs
- A hidden asset uncovered: A new core fundraising report that identified a segment of loyal donors with a high average lifetime giving amount
- A full marketing and fundraising audit, plus donor profiles and a competitor analysis
- A 12-month communications calendar and 13 prioritized playbooks
The Challenge
Our Brother’s Keeper didn’t have a mission problem.
Since 2013, OBK has grown from a seasonal overnight shelter into a year-round haven serving Mecosta, Osceola, Lake, and Newaygo counties: close to 300 people and about 12,000 bed nights a year. And their approach goes beyond a bed. As board member Dave Nicol put it, OBK is “more than just a roof and a bed and food.” The team works to understand why each guest became homeless and helps them address those causes so they can return to the community and stay there.
The challenge was that the story of that work hadn’t quite caught up to the work itself.
Much of OBK’s communication led with information and statistics. Those matter, but they were lighter on the human stories that move people to give. And with 100+ organizations serving people experiencing homelessness within a four-hour drive, donors have plenty of choices. Why OBK? What’s the clear next step for a donor, a church, a business, or a neighbor?
At the same time, OBK is a lean team wearing a lot of hats. Whatever came next had to be simple, prioritized, and realistic. Board chair Ron McKean said what he was looking for: help with “long-term funding needs so that we’re in a stable place moving forward.”
The Solution
Thanks to Capital for Compassion, a trusted partner of OBK and friend of ours, we teamed up to do something we love to do: drop into an organization as if we were their long-term director of development and ask, what would we recommend?
Over about three months, we worked through four stages:
- A marketing and fundraising audit that reviewed everything from the website and print pieces to their donor data, color-coded green, yellow, and red so nothing felt like blame
- A brand message workshop that produced a Brand Message Guide for four audiences (donors, guests, agency and partner networks, and neighbors), plus ideal donor profiles, a one-liner, and a bolder tagline
- A competitor analysis of the verbal and visual messaging of other organizations serving the region
- A Strategic Marketing + Fundraising Plan, including a 12-month communications calendar and 13 prioritized playbooks, from monthly giving and end-of-year campaigns to tours, donor meetings, mail, and events
Three insights shaped the plan:
- Their most loyal supporters were an asset worth stewarding. In OBK’s donor data, we found a core group of supporters who had given three years in a row, with high average lifetime giving rate. That became the foundation for a major donor and lapsed donor approach built on thanking, reporting back, and building relationships.
- Tours are their secret weapon. People who visit are moved by how comprehensive the work is. In Ron’s words, “we have seen very positive results from bringing people through our shelter.” So we built a tour strategy where every visit ends with a clear next step: give, join, volunteer, sponsor, refer, or open a door.
- They are more than a shelter. We built the message around a simple truth: homelessness impacts the whole community, so the solution has to include the whole community. That gave OBK a distinct point of view, a shelter-and-more story that neighbors, churches, and businesses can join, and the tagline that started it all: More than a shelter.
Ron had a simple reaction to the finished message guide: “I like the homogeneity of this whole presentation. It’s saying the same message to different people in maybe slightly different ways.”
The Results
This engagement’s goal was about building a foundation, and the team put it to work fast.
A few of the wins:
- A clearer story, live on the website. OBK updated its homepage with the “More than a shelter” tagline and reorganized its site around its core programs instead of a list of activities.
- New language for telling the story. Executive Director Jeffrey Auguste said, “I like some of the phrases you gave to us when we’re reaching out to people or telling the story.”
- A simpler way to give monthly. OBK refined its monthly giving program with a lower starting gift so more people can say yes.
- A community gathering that drew a crowd. Using the plan’s guidance on low-lift, relationship-building events, OBK planned its Blue Jean Ball this fall, its first benefit dinner of this size, with 100+ attendees. The event also earned front-page coverage in the local paper.
- A team putting the plan to work. Board member Dave Nicol shared, “Jeffrey and Harley have done an outstanding job of taking a lot of what you offered to heart and expanding our connections in the community.”
Most importantly, OBK now has a plan, a message, and a set of next steps that match the quality of the work they do every day.
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Meet Our Client, Our Brother’s Keeper
Our Brother’s Keeper is a faith-based, 24/7 emergency shelter in Big Rapids, Michigan, serving Mecosta, Osceola, Lake, and Newaygo counties. Founded in 2013 by a group of compassionate community members, OBK offers a step toward self-sufficiency for families and individuals experiencing homelessness, providing shelter, meals, and hands-on support on the path to stable housing.
Their vision is a community where every family and individual enjoys a self-sufficient life, secure in their own home.
It solidified a vision
“I’m very impressed with the quality of what you have brought to us… it does solidify a vision and provide uniformity to our approach.”
— Ron McKean, Board Chair, Our Brother’s Keeper
They took it to heart
“Jeffrey and Harley have done an outstanding job of taking a lot of what you offered to heart and expanding our connections in the community.”
— Dave Nicol, Board Secretary, Our Brother’s Keeper
Schedule a Consultation
We believe that effective fundraising and marketing is both relational and revenue-focused. Our partnership with Our Brother’s Keeper is a powerful example of that belief in action.
If your organization wants greater clarity and momentum in your decision-making and fundraising activities, it’s time to swap all the things to try for a simple fundraising plan to follow. Sound intriguing? Let’s talk.
