CASE STUDY
Designing a new monthly giving program for Plant With Purpose
MY CHALLENGE
Plant With Purpose is a leader among organizations that connect environmental restoration to humanitarian development. They started working back in 1984 and have expanded into seven countries. Because their work has been around for so long and has helped so many people, they've had to learn, adapt, and transform over the years.
For a long time, Plant With Purpose has pitched a Sponsor-a-Village program as its main opportunity for supporters to make monthly gifts. While the connection to a particular village was attractive, it seemed to work most effectively for church groups and older donors rather than millennials and individual givers.
I joined the Plant With Purpose team at a time where it was seeking to grow these donor bases. I suggested tailoring Sponsor-a-Village more specifically for the groups with who m it worked well, and designing a new entry-level giving opportunity.
MY RESPONSE
I developed Purpose Partners. By signing up to give monthly, supporters would be a part of a well-branded giving community that received the latest stories that showed them how the world they were investing in was being transformed. I also suggested building up the community aspect through the chance to win trips and attend events. These decisions were based on the discoveries that revealed donor’s main motivations for signing up were to act on their values and to participate in a community.
One strength of Sponsor a Village was the connection it gave Plant With Purpose supporters to the organization’s field work. In order to continue to foster that, I designed the program’s main storytelling device to be Purpose Projects, where the communication partners would receive each couple months would revolve around a different aspect of the organization’s work.
MY RESULTS
The redesign was met with enthusiasm as it addressed many of the recurring concerns Plant With Purpose representatives have had with determining what to pitch to interested supporters. Immediately they were able to start introducing new audiences to a simpler, more effective opportunity to contribute to the work.
Purpose Partner communication soon became a primary “donor vehicle” at events that Plant With Purpose presented at, including The Justice Conference and the Whole Life Festival. The team found the clarity that the redesign provided really helped its representatives find new partners and supporters more easily.
