Graduation Gratitude Campaign

In 2022, when I started at Denver Scholarship Foundation (DSF), I updated and sent out a postcard congratulating that year's graduates and soliciting donations. It featured a photo of DSF student whose name I didn't know, whose photo was several years old. The postcard didn't prove effective, and my team and I realized it was time to rethink our spring campaign.

As we shifted towards a storytelling-first approach to all our work and leaned into the photography and videography skills that our team brought to the table, we identified graduation season as a key part of this. We began offering complimentary graduation photos to the DSF Scholars who were graduating with our scholarship and support services. Each year, demand and gratitude for this service has grown.

• 

• 

• 

• 

Once we take the photos and share them for Scholars' use, we utilize the photos for a multi-channel fundraising and awareness campaign. A featured Scholar serves as the primary story for a video, direct mail, and email, while shining a light on the hundreds of other graduating Scholars through supporting images. These stories are shared across social media, outdoor advertising on Auraria Campus and downtown Denver, and at in-person graduation events.

This campaign has created a win-win scenario for both DSF Scholars, who get high-quality grad photos, and DSF as an organization, who is able to showcase authentic, recent photos of the students they serve. Combined with strategic thinking, it has improved the efficiency of fundraising and provided increased community and donor awareness of who DSF is and what they do for three years running.