The Client
AIDS Foundation Houston, Inc. (AFH) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation founded in 1982 as Texas' first organization dedicated to HIV prevention education and services. Its mission is to create positive social impact through the innovative management of HIV/AIDS and other chronic diseases. With innovative programs in education, disease prevention, and client services, AIDS Foundation Houston strives to eradicate HIV/AIDS and other chronic illnesses. The organization prides itself in its collaborative relationships with governmental, community, AIDS-service, and faith-based organizations in developing a continuum of care for people with HIV/AIDS, collaborating with more than 100 community agencies to provide HIV outreach, education, and service.
The Problem
AIDS Foundation Houston needed an efficient way to communicate with large numbers of constituents online and capture and store constituents’ interests and email addresses. In addition, the organization managed its multiple fundraising events manually, draining staff time that could be spent on mission-related activities. The organization’s website, www.AIDShelp.org, generated little traffic, and updates were cumbersome and time-consuming.
How We Solved It
The AIDS Foundation Houston works with Convio Interactive Specialists to help implement and administer new online campaigns, event alerts, reporting and analysis, as well as troubleshooting. Using Convio’s integrated online constituent relationship management platform, AIDS Foundation Houston can expand outreach and build deeper relationships with donors and other key audiences. Convio Fundraising and TeamRaiserTM give constituents and AIDS Walk participants easy-to-use tools to reach out to their personal networks on behalf of the organization. Convio eCommerce helps manage ticket and merchandise sales, and provides an additional channel for shoppers to purchase goods and/or services to benefit the organization’s programs and services. To allow staff to easily update the organization’s website, Content Management (Convio PageBuilder) was also implemented.
The Outcome
Working with Convio, AIDS Foundation Houston has increased total online donations for its annual Walk from $400,000 to more than $660,000 within two years, with total revenues from the Walk increasing 64%, from $597,000 to more than $944,000. Using Convio TeamRaiserTM and Convio eCommerce has allowed AIDS Foundation Houston to operate more efficiently by streamlining communications with volunteers and donors, and enabling participants to expand online donations through their own personal networks. The organization grew its house file from 4,825 usable email addresses to 10,375 within 14 months, expanding its outreach by 115%. Additionally, to drive donors to make an online gift, AIDS Foundation Houston created an attractive, emotional eCard about Camp Hope, the organization’s week-long summer camp for HIV-positive children. The campaign included an online appeal that generated the same annual return that would have been raised with a direct mail campaign at a fraction of the cost.
Convio products used: Ecommerce, Email Marketing, Fundraising, TeamRaiser
