Digital Donor Recognition: 6 Considerations Before Going Digital

Nonprofits must engage and inspire their audiences through virtual technology, too. Virtual experiences are the go-to solution for sustaining the philanthropic relationships that nonprofits rely on to meet their missions. Technology is more than a response to this emergency. It should be seen as an opportunity to put new tools to use, to innovate and disrupt our traditional, event, and facility-based habits. Technology is reducing traditional engagement participation barriers, providing efficiencies and cost-savings, and generating new, distinctly 21st century methods for building a culture of philanthropy.

Moving to Vermont!

Welcome, one and all to our next master project, a deconsecrated, mid-century Catholic church in Saxtons River, Vermont! This is going to be a bit of an adventure. Right now, there’s no shower, a make-shift kitchen, and about twenty remaining church pews, but by the end of May 2021, we will be living and working from there.

Anne Manner-McLartyApril 26, 2021Comment

Food as Medicine: Donors support a new approach at Grady Health System

In what was an unused space in the parking deck outside the main entrance to Grady Memorial Hospital in downtown Atlanta, there is now a bright and welcoming spot to get a nutritious meal. The Jesse Hill Market opened in 2020 as a partnership between the Grady Health System, Open Hand Atlanta and the Atlanta Community Food Bank.

Recognition, StorytellingAnne Manner-McLartyJanuary 27, 2021donor wall, donor recognitionComment

Philanthropic Placemaking at the Lowcountry Food Bank

As the reality of stay-at-home orders and business closures unfolded in the spring of 2020, Heurista made a decision: if one of our nonprofit clients asked us to complete a project, we’d do it even if it meant our team would need to travel. We completed many amazing projects over the course of the year, but none as large or as surprising as the work we did for the Lowcountry Food Bank.

Recognition, Storytelling, BrandingAnne Manner-McLartyJanuary 11, 2021donor recognition, environmental graphicsComment

Expanding A Family’s Legacy: Recognition at Roper Hospital

Heurista was contracted to design, fabricate, and install a recognition plaque telling the story of the Parker legacy at Roper St. Francis, as well as updated dimensional lettering and general improvements to the space including the installation of the portraits of the father and son.

RecognitionAnne Manner-McLartyDecember 14, 2020donor recognition, portraitureComment

Sheltering Arms Institute: Donor Recognition as a Beacon for the Community

In October 2019, Heurista was engaged by the Sheltering Arms Foundation in Richmond, Virginia to develop the donor recognition strategy for the “state of the science” Sheltering Arms Institute rehabilitation hospital. From the earliest stages of the building’s design, there’d been a desire to draw attention to the verticality of the prominent, all-glass atrium at the entrance. Referred to as “the Beacon,” the four-story atrium serves as a focal point and is visible from the highway and the approach to the new facility. In conversation with the foundation, Heurista recognized a unique and exciting opportunity – to combine a visually dynamic hanging sculpture with recognition of the campaign donors.

Naming Opportunities Can Demonstrate Organizational Commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Nonprofits are subjected to persistent criticism around the practice of naming opportunities. The questions being lobbied are not new. Students, faculty, under-represented constituents, and the media have pointed to the disparities, if not the outright hypocrisy, in how naming rights are awarded. Who is being honored and why? Most often, the answer is the donor making the largest gift.

In light of the current focus on systemic racism, some organizations are considering naming rights removal often under daily pressure from the press. Many nonprofits are coming to terms with the risks inherent in the naming of institutional assets and facing the reality that ethical challenges may come from aligning with the ever-evolving legacies of individual, fallible people.

Creative Renovation: The Gambrell Center at Queens University

From the outside, the fully reworked facade now integrates with the aesthetic of the campus, offering a wide plaza and cooling fountains to passersby. Inside, The Sarah Belk Gambrell Center for the Arts and Civic Engagement is a distinctively contemporary arts space with no indications of its previous lines.

Recognition, Sign ProgramsAnne Manner-McLartyJune 11, 2020donor recognition, creative placemaking, artComment

Series: Why Donor Recognition Matters

Institutions of all sizes are strategic in their fundraising — and with good reason.

An organization needs money to survive, and they wouldn’t go into the process of raising thousands or even millions of dollars without a plan.

But just as valuable as convincing those donors to give, is recognizing their generosity. And that’s where so many organizations fall short.

Recognition SeriesAnne Manner-McLartyFebruary 24, 2020donor recognitionComment

Series: Finding Meaning in the ‘Parties, Pins, and Plaques’

Donor recognition is sometimes loosely defined as “parties, pins and plaques.”

That’s because many institutions think about donor recognition in an isolated way, limited to the variety of activities or objects used to show appreciation for a donor, both publicly and privately.

Recognition SeriesAnne Manner-McLartyFebruary 23, 2020Comment