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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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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:

How Ladue Education Foundation Built Fundraising Clarity Without Adding Headcount

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WHO:

For a small team, every donor relationship really matters. So does knowing where to focus.

The Ladue Education Foundation supports a public school district of about 4,000 students, funding programs and classroom experiences that go beyond what public dollars cover. With just two staff members, everything comes down to focus, relationships, and making every hour count.

Executive Director Julie Faree, an alum of the district, has been leading the effort to shift the foundation from annual fundraising to building a long term endowment that can support the schools for years to come.

THE CHALLENGE:

Like a lot of small shops, Ladue was relying heavily on events and annual giving.

It worked, but it was starting to strain resources. Events took a lot of time, volunteer capacity was shrinking, and the return wasn’t always clear.

At the same time, the goal was getting bigger. The foundation wanted to build a multi million dollar endowment, but with a small team, there was no way to bring in a consulting firm or build out a dedicated prospect research function.

They needed clarity on their donor base and a way to focus on the right relationships without adding more overhead or building a full prospect research function.

Even before a formal campaign strategy was fully in place, the team knew they couldn’t afford to keep operating on volume alone. They needed a clearer way to see where real opportunity lived within their existing donor base, so they could focus their limited time where it mattered most.

WHY EVERTRUE:

EverTrue helped Ladue operate with the clarity of a much larger team, without needing one.

Instead of outsourcing strategy or hiring consultants, Julie used DonorSearch by EverTrue to turn existing donor data into something actionable and usable day to day.

It gave the team a way to understand their donors more deeply, prioritize more effectively, and move forward with confidence, even with very limited staff capacity.

For a small foundation, that kind of clarity really does change what feels possible.

The Results:

In the early phase of the campaign, that clarity started to take shape quickly. With DonorSearch by EverTrue, the Ladue Foundation has been able to:

-Build a clearer and more focused view of their strongest endowment prospects

-Create a prioritized donor list using existing supporters and deeper data signals

-Share a more confident silent phase strategy with board leadership

-Spend less time on events and more time focused on donor relationships

-Establish a stronger sense of direction for a 5 to 10 million dollar endowment campaign

The Full Story:

For the Ladue Education Foundation, the shift didn’t start with technology. It started with a decision to stop relying so heavily on events and start thinking longer term.


Once they stepped away from a major gala model, they started focusing on building a more sustainable fundraising strategy centered on an endowment.


But with just two people on staff, the challenge wasn’t vision. It was execution.


That’s where DonorSearch by EverTrue came in.


Working closely with Steve Fowler, Julie began digging into their donor base in a more intentional way, connecting giving history, engagement, and capacity signals to understand where real opportunity lived.

What had once been a long list of donors started to feel more manageable and actionable. Even small gifts became useful signals that helped guide prioritization and outreach.


Over time, the foundation moved from reactive fundraising to a more focused, relationship driven approach, supported by clearer insight and stronger alignment with their board.


The endowment is still in its early phase, but the foundation now has something it didn’t have before, a clear path forward and the confidence to execute it.


Because at the end of the day, it’s still about people, not profiles.

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