Lima Central Catholic High School

THE PROBLEM:

Raise more than $11 million to build new academic and athletic facilities, despite never having conducted a capital campaign before.

FOCALIZING TECHNIQUE:

Create a strong tie between Catholic families’ desire for a high quality education and their faith. The campaign theme: “They Have His Blessing; They Need Your Support” brought into sharp focus the relationship between faith, education and financial support.

THE DETAILS:

We created a three phase campaign to reach out to donors, the Catholic community and the general community. Campaign promotional materials laid out the reasons why the campaign was necessary and how donations would be used. A major kick-off celebration focused on the Catholic Community drew more than 3,000 people. A unified message stressing the community-wide benefits of the campaign enabled more than 1,800 people and companies to become donors, also laying the foundation for the school’s overall marketing and development efforts.

THE FOLLOW-UP:

The campaign raised nearly $11 million and enabled construction of a Science and Technology center, a Student Life Center and a gymnasium. The integration of a comprehensive marketing program with the campaign’s fundraising process was critical to the success of the project.