Associate vice present David Fuerst shares how Lutheran World Relief united the organisation and its donors behind a core message.

Around five years ago, Lutheran World Relief (LWR) was mid merger with IMA International to unite under the Corus International umbrella brand.

“One of the biggest assets that we were bringing to the table was our fundraising capabilities with individual donors, specifically their unrestricted support,” says David Fuerst, associate vice president, global relationships and resources at Corus.

“We had been enjoying regular growth of between 5-10% for the last decade or so. About the time that we were executing the merger, we saw a decline in giving.”

This injected a sense of urgency into the organisation around its fundraising strategy.

“We knew we had to do something,” continues Fuerst. “It was timely as we were also crafting the brand strategy for the new organisation. Fundraising was the core consideration in setting that strategy.”

Consistent messaging

Based on preliminary meetings with Adrian Sargeant of the Institute for Sustainable Philanthropy, the faith charity launched an audit of its fundraising programme to pinpoint the problem and how it could be fixed.

“The first observation was that our donors loved us, but they really didn’t know what we did. Our message was lacking consistency. We talked to donors about the hundreds of different things that LWR worked on from water and sanitation to tackling malaria to the plight of coffee growers in Africa. The breadth and depth of our programming was leading to confusion among our donors. They were struggling to understand how we could do so many different things and have an effective impact with their donations. We needed to distil all the problems we were addressing down into one single proposition.”

Bringing senior leadership together from across the entire organisation – from programming to finance, marketing, comms and fundraising – they spent the better part of a week working on what that fundraising proposition could look like.

“We knew we had to come up with a clear message. Pulling the entire team together was critical as were united behind the same goal and everybody had the opportunity to contribute.”

The story of Paulina

The proposition began with finding the best possible story to tell: the story of Paulina. With dark clouds of the pandemic looming, Paulina was an 80-year-old refugee fleeing civil war in South Sudan. She was living in a refugee settlement in northern Uganda with her teenage grandson. They lived hand to mouth, growing vegetables to eat and selling what little they had left over at the local market. Through the help of LWR supporters they received improved seeds and agricultural training to help diversify their diet, increase their income and build a life in their new home. 

The proposition that the charity hit upon, and one that still endures today, is: Until your love reaches every neighbour.

“Through Paulina’s story we could show that small interventions can change people’s lives,” says Fuerst.

“The biggest problems of the world can be solved through the generosity of the human spirit and the truth
that ultimately we all want to help our neighbours in need. Paulina’s story is a beautiful illustration of this point. It united our organisation, our donors and drove our fundraising and new donor acquisition strategy.”

Return on investment

This single fundraising proposition has helped double acquisition rates on a yearly basis, hitting around 15,000 last year, with unrestricted revenue increasing by 77% over the last four years. “When we started this process, our team had eyes as big as saucers when we said we wanted to double acquisition every year,” says Fuerst.

“Now, it is their expectation.”

Paulina’s story was only part of the transformative journey LWR has been on. Such growth would not have been possible without visionary leadership and recognition that nothing happens in fundraising without investment.

Fuerst explains: “Some core investments we made were in the foundational elements of our fundraising programme. Strategic and targeted investments in honing our message and building team culture have yielded an outsized impact. For example, investing in partners and external counsel who aligned with our aspirations and values was a critical component in reversing the curve. The return on these investments is not as obvious as investments such as new donor acquisition or new donor advisers. Yet our team often points to the upfront work as a key turning point.

Without that, it would have been difficult to move forward.

“We continue to invest in equipping our team to do their job well. The leadership and advocacy our vice president and president provided our team the opportunity to shine. The investments they made in the programme set us up for success.”

Nurturing the fundraising culture remains a priority within the organisation.

“The shift at LWR has been remarkable,” concludes Fuerst. “We have united the entire organisation behind the proposition, and everyone is on the same page. Everyone has some stake in fundraising and growing income. We have gone from ‘can we do this?’ to ‘we know why we exist, and nothing can stop us’. Persistent focus on culture remains a priority. We have an incredible team that has accomplished great growth. Maintaining the culture and expectations requires our tenacity.”