“We don't have one set Christmas appeal that is done exactly the same year after year. Our focus is to intentionally bring peace, joy, and hope into relationships by connecting and engaging parents at a deeper level. Throughout December we will personally connect with key donors and volunteers (around 100), meeting with them individually, bringing a small gift (box of candy and CLHS Christmas ornament), and thanking them for their partnership and support. We will also provide an invitation to give through several different Thanksgiving/Christmas communications, connected with, and including a Christmas tree lighting event on campus, with Choir, Dance, and Orchestra performances. In addition, before the end of the year, we will share both online and by mail, a praise and generosity report celebrating God's provision, our donors and our volunteers. The success of the fall/Christmas appeal (all our appeals) is directly reflected by the number and growing depth of real, authentic relationships within the Saints community. Within those relationships, having a committed, engaged Advancement cabinet of generous, parent advocates.”
Nate Kretzmann, Chief Advancement Officer, CREAN Lutheran High School (Irvin, CA)
“We are just starting a Christmas appeal at Trinity Bend for the first time this year. I sent a letter/email of thanks to donors in October. I announced the Trinity Fund (our Annual Fund) last week in our newsletter. We will make our ask in the next week and the have weekly blasts in December through email to our various stakeholders as follow-up. We worked last year at LEAH (Lutheran Education Association of Houston) Schools with Zach Clark of St Louis. He suggested a four step process that worked well: 1) Thanking our stakeholders for their support, 2) Reporting on how we are doing, what their gifts do, 3) Ask for support for the current year, 4) Follow-up - Did you see it? / Ask people to forward it to all they know…this works with a report. We raised more than we had in previous years with his strategy.”
Greg Pinick, Executive Director / Head of Schools, Trinity Lutheran Church and School (Bend, OR)
“The appeal is the third contact we have with donors between Reformation and Christmas. We host a Legacy breakfast honoring a member of the family and establishing an endowed scholarship with gifts. We do a giving Tuesday for a ministry we have chosen. This year is livestock for Tanzania. Finally we do an appeal through United States’ mail and supported with social media that offers a Christmas list of items that are already in our budget. We provide options for the donors. Increasingly we see people as being transactional. They want to see a tangible result of their giving.”
Don E. Gillingham, Executive Director, Rockford Lutheran High School (Rockford, IL)
“Valley Lutheran does an appeal letter with a Christmas greeting. Along with the letter we will make some targeted phone calls and appointments. Prior to three years ago we had not done an annual fund letter at Christmas. It has been met with mild success.”
Bob Koehne, Executive Director, Valley Lutheran High School (Phoenix, AZ)
“We put out our magazine to recap the fall school activities and also a heavy alumni emphasis. We follow up in two weeks with a Christmas card designed by one of our art students. I sign and write a personalized message on each card. We produce a combination of compelling, heartfelt stories with lots of pictures.”
David Burgess, Executive Director-Principal, Racine Lutheran High School (Racine, WI)
“We are holding a two-week push for our Annual Fund with a campaign called “I’m In,” which focuses on 100% family and faculty participation. The campaign kicked off on November 11 and extends to November 22. The week before Nov. 11, each family was sent a letter introducing the fund plus a donation card and a return envelope with their student(s) name and grade. The donation cards can be returned to any school office for the two weeks. Participation is calculated daily by grade and posted for families to see on the main drive of our school. When/If a grade reaches 100% participation, the students in that grade will be treated to an ice cream party. In addition to the letters and signs, we are also doing a social media blast on a daily basis to keep awareness high during these weeks. This is the first time we are doing it, so we will see how it goes.”
Shelia Psencik, Head of School, Luther South Academy (Houston, TX)
“Our Christmas appeal is the typical holiday ask with letter and reply card/envelope but this year we have a bit of a twist in that we are in the early stages of a campaign for Metro-East Lutheran that they can also become involved in. The one key thing that has made our appeals successful over the years is a matching gift challenge at the holidays...but it can't be every year or else donors get a little curious as to ‘why we happen to have a matching challenge every year.’"
Dr. Jay Krause, Executive Director, Metro-East Lutheran High School, (Edwardsville, IL)
“We don’t do a Christmas appeal. Our Annual Fund runs from mid –September through mid-November so we feel it is too soon for another appeal. Also, right now we’re busy collecting money for tornado relief!”
Dave Bangert, Executive Director, Dallas Lutheran School (Dallas, TX)
“We send a Thanksgiving appeal letter to our families. This Thanksgiving ‘greeting’ includes the request to prayerfully consider donating to the faculty Christmas bonus fund. All the donations that come in are factored in to the same bonus for all staff…and appropriate amount for part time as well. Timing is critical to our appeal. Thanksgiving and hopefully counting the LHSA as one of the blessings for our families. Also, conveying that any amount is truly appreciated….if people can just send in $10 that’s great and many send in much more!”
Paul Looker, Superintendent, Lutheran High School Association (Rochester Hills, MI)
“We used to have a pretty aggressive Christmas appeal, but when we moved to a Comprehensive Campaign over three years ago we’ve backed off of that process and made it much less formal. We simple send an invitation to our Grandparents to plug into giving that time of the year if they aren't already a supporter in some other way. We don't budget around it or have high expectations—just a time for someone to plug in if they choose. Ultimately we'd much rather get the chance to sit down with someone and get them plugged into our campaign than write a $50 check at Christmas time.”
Scott Ernstmeyer, Executive Director, Lincoln Lutheran High School (Lincoln, NE)
“The Lutheran High School Association of Greater Milwaukee handles our appeal. This year they will use a theme related to Love Languages. We also have distinct ‘Wish Lists’ for each campus, and those will likely be updated and pushed out again just before the holidays as well. The Wish List allows for donors to click on specific items and make the targeted donation for those specific wish list items.”
Katie Baganz, Principal, Lake Country Lutheran High School (Hartford, WI)
“Faculty recognition and gifts are part of the distribution from the Annual Eagle Fund. An e-letter is sent out to each division, donations pooled, money equally distributed. Families are welcome to give individual teacher gifts as they choose.”
Chris Hahn, Headmaster, Prince of Peace Christian School (Carrollton, TX)
“Our school's fiscal year is August – July, and we send an Annual Report Calendar in the mail to all of our donors from the last fiscal year, as well as all of our current parents and alumni parents. In this 48-page, full color piece, we highlight the ministry successes from the last year in the first 24 pages, including a breakdown of our income and expenses. The last 24 pages are a calendar for the upcoming year. In that portion, we focus on specific aspects of our ministry on each of the month spreads that are unique to us or have some exciting momentum. We feel that this gives this appeal longer shelf life since the document is purposeful for the family as it includes important dates for the year ahead as well. Finally, included in this print piece, we include our school's wishlist for the year featuring unbudgeted items that are not able to be covered in the budget at the present time, or new items that programs discovered a need for after the budget process. We send this out at the beginning of December and offer a variety of end of year giving opportunities for the donors and potential donors. I believe this appeal is successful as the donors have the tangible insert sheet which has our wishlist on the front and ways to support on the back, as well as a reply-device envelope. Then, with the annual report, families do not throw it away as quickly as they can use it for their home and our ministry or at least a portion of it, is at the top of their mind through the new year.”
Jonathan Schleicher, Director of Advancement, Concordia Lutheran High School (Tomball, TX)
“Rather than a Christmas Appeal we have a Thanksgiving Appeal, in hopes that we are among the earlier ‘appeals’ received by our donors. In the appeal letter to current parents we offer them the opportunity to make a Christmas gift for the faculty and staff. We budget Christmas gifts and most years the parent gifts meet the budgeted amount. However, some years they greatly exceed the budget and then we are able to give ‘extra’ gifts to the faculty and staff.”
John Brandt, Executive Director, Valley Lutheran High School (Saginaw, MI)
“We identify an alumnus or current student whose story will touch the hearts of our readers. We craft a no more than two-page letter (can be printed on one sheet although two pages will work better) that tells their story. It is important that the letter is about the alumnus/student and shares how our school made or is making a difference in their lives and in their future. At least one picture and often two to help tell the story even better. A quote from the student/alumnus is necessary also. If possible the alumnus/student's signature is used. If not, someone at the school whose name is recognized and preferably is an alumnus of the school. Yes, it could be the President but it is really the connection of the signatory with the story that carries the most weight. A President/CEO/ED is seen as someone who is expected to sign such letters but won't necessarily remember the story. The alumnus/student or other staff signatories will remember the story and can talk about it with others.”
John F. Schoedel, Chief Development Officer, Concordia Lutheran High School (Fort Wayne, IN)
“We have been doing an annual fund appeal for years just before Thanksgiving. We do a mailing to our donor base with a description of what the funds will support. It's always something specific—playground, technology, bus/van, etc. I put a four page 'RAMS Review' together and then an appeal letter, that is professionally printed. The RAMS review this year had quotes from parents, teachers, students, and alumni as to how the school has impacted or benefitted them. I include a lot of photos of kids, staff, and events I don't think our appeal is successful. I've been looking online at what others are doing, and it seems that we need to get a bit more creative. We may try to do a video next year, and use the kids and staff to make our appeal. I don't think we promote it as we could, maybe with a dedicated staff person to keep the appeal in front of everyone we would do better. We used to make phone calls, but that didn't seem to be much more effective than just sending an appeal.”
Gail Holzer, Executive Director, Redeemer Lutheran School (Verona, PA)
“We have changed our appeal in the last few years. We used to send a Christmas card with an appeal to a very broad audience—parents, staff, alumni, friends (important to note that mail appeals have not traditionally been very effective for us other than in picking up a new donor here and there). In recent years, we have changed our approach to year-end giving. We now have a campaign/thematic approach to year-end giving from the beginning of December until year-end. It involves a day of giving, social media posts, emails, and personal (mostly email) follow-up from our development staff and Head of School for any donors on our lists who did not give in the calendar year. Our Christmas card has no appeal in it, although it follows the same theme as our year-end campaign, and goes to our parents, staff, Board members, and anyone who has made a gift in the last five years, in other words, people who are closely connected to the school. The multi-pronged approach to reaching givers through online and email opportunities over an extended period of time has increased participation. Additionally, as a side benefit, we have reduced the large print expense and are able to send timely reminders via email and social media.”
Jane Lottes, Head of Advancement, Long Island Lutheran Middle and High School (Brookville, NY)