Like for many organizations, the pandemic made it harder for Mamas for Mamas to fundraise and Shannon, CEO of Mamas for Mamas knew she’d have to do something different if she wanted to keep her team employed and on track.
Jillian Harris hosted her fundraising online raffle, Santa Jilly’s Christmas in June in support of the national organization Mamas for Mamas. This raffle was designed to bring in the necessary funds Mamas for Mamas needs to support those in their community. The raffle featured over 100 prizes where supporters could donate for a chance to win items.
At first, the Mamas for Mamas team set up their online raffle themselves, through their own website, which only had the capacity to handle a certain number of visitors. However, it didn’t take long for them to realize that the excitement of their raffle far exceeded what they planned, and the site began to crash, unable to handle the traffic coming. Unsure of what to do now, they needed to find a new solution to meet the demands of their fundraiser.
Shannon was hesitant to switch to Trellis as their raffle was running, as people were buying tickets and she wanted to minimize overhead costs and donor confusion. But, knowing it was the best way forward she pulled the plug. In a sweaty and exciting moment, midway through the raffle, the Mamas for Mamas team was able to make the change to Trellis! Within 20 minutes they had switched over and were redirecting people to the new site.
“We run a charity platform, not a tech platform, we made the switch as soon as possible.”
– Shannon Christensen, CEO Mamas for Mamas
Shannon was hoping this event could bring in the kind of funding that Mamas for Mamas “desperately needed.” And it did!
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Shannon was hoping this event could bring in the kind of funding that Mamas for Mamas “desperately needed.” And it did!
Not knowing how much money people had to spare, they hoped to raise $40,000 with their raffle, allowing them to keep their front line Mamas employed. Thanks to the additional raffle page on Trellis, the raffle raised a total of over $233,000. “The numbers blew my mind,” said Shannon.
In less than 24 hours, just under $20,000 was raised on the Mamas for Mamas original site and over $218,000 was raised through the Trellis platform. “This is a very important lesson for us as we try to scale. We didn’t realize how much help we needed and how intense the campaign would be. The Trellis team stepped in at the right time,” explains Shannon.
“I would rather 95% of $233,000 over 100% of $20,000 all day, everyday!”
– Shannon Christensen, CEO Mamas for Mamas
Shannon explained how hugely beneficial it was to use the Trellis platform and have the Trellis team as tech support for this campaign. She plans on using Trellis for future campaigns as well.
“I am the most resistant person to adopt new technology you will ever meet in your life, and our technology lead will attest to that. . . but I am 100% an advocate of using Trellis.”
– Shannon Christensen, CEO Mamas for Mamas
