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See how our products have helped 15,000+ organizations
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DonorSearch identifies prospects in your database with the capacity and intent to give.

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See how our products have helped 15,000+ organizations
See how our products have helped 15,000+ organizations
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Customer Stories:

From Fragmented Communication to Intentional Engagement: How The Citadel Foundation Strengthened Donor Relationships at Scale

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WHO:

Wealth gets you in the door. Understanding why people give gets the gift. The Citadel Foundation supports The Citadel, a military college in Charleston, South Carolina, whose alumni network spans cadets, veterans, and graduate students across military and civilian careers. As the foundation worked to strengthen fundraising and stewardship at scale, it saw the need for a more connected approach to understanding donor activity and guiding engagement across teams.

THE CHALLENGE:

The Citadel Foundation aimed to turn a $50 million stretch goal into a repeatable, sustainable fundraising strategy. Key challenges included:

-Disconnected systems limiting efficiency

-Limited donor visibility impacting segmentation and prioritization

-Manual processes restricting scalable outreach

-Fragmented team coordination across giving, stewardship, and major gifts

They saw growth potential but lacked the tools to scale it.

WHY EVERTRUE:

The Citadel Foundation used EverTrue to unify data, improve coordination, and scale engagement.

With Signal, ThankView, and Pledgemine, they:

-Automated donor engagement cadences for new and reactivated donors

-Centralized donor interaction tracking

-Improved segmentation using real engagement data (opens, clicks, video views)

-Enabled fundraisers to prioritize and coordinate outreach more effectively

-Aligned teams around shared donor data in one platform

EverTrue also served as a strategic partner, helping shape the team’s approach to engagement, not just how they used the tools.

The Results:

-Stronger engagement: Coordinated postcards, videos, and follow-ups improved donor onboarding

-Faster prospect identification: New donors are surfaced quickly to major gift teams

-Higher event participation: Personalized video invites increased attendance

-Better segmentation: Outreach driven by real-time engagement behavior

-Re-engaged donors: Structured follow-up revived previously unresponsive donors

-Greater efficiency: Automation replaced manual tracking and spreadsheets

The Full Story:

The Citadel Foundation has long benefited from strong collaboration across annual giving, stewardship, and major gifts. But sustaining a $50 million fundraising goal required more scalable systems.


A leadership-led tech review sparked a broader effort to improve efficiency and alignment across teams. The result was a shift toward a more connected, data-informed approach.


With EverTrue solutions including ThankView videos, Pledgemine postcards, and Signal at the center of the engagement strategy, the team built coordinated donor journeys. New and reactivated donors now move through structured cadences and follow-ups. All activity tracked in Signal gives teams full visibility into engagement.


This visibility has changed how teams work. Fundraisers can see donor history, engagement, and touchpoints, enabling more coordinated and less redundant outreach.


The impact is clear: higher event attendance, more behavior-driven segmentation, and stronger re-engagement of previously unresponsive donors.


What was once fragmented is now connected, scalable, and built for long-term growth.

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