Lucy Burns Institute

Case Study

Building a robust and diversified donor base.

The Lucy Burns Institute (LBI) is revolutionizing the way information reaches citizens through its cutting-edge programs—especially its Ballotpedia and Judgepedia websites. LBI’s interactive sites include nearly 230,000 original articles and have been viewed more than 340 million times.

Having successfully navigated its startup phase to become a fast-growing enterprise, LBI turned to American Philanthropic to help it build a more diverse donor base. We worked with LBI to develop and implement a direct mail program that explained the organization’s mission in a way that appealed to new donors while protecting its unique brand. We also worked with LBI to nurture these donor relationships through a systematic house file mail program.

Finally, American Philanthropic helped LBI launch a more robust foundation solicitation program by identifying and researching good foundation prospects, crafting strategic approach strategies, and assisting in the writing and editing of letters of inquiry, applications, and proposals. The Lucy Burns Institute is now well on its way to building a more robust house file and broader base of foundation supporters.

American Philanthropic is registered as “fundraising counsel,” “fundraising consultants,” or other similar designations in all states requiring this kind of registration. We did not act as a “professional fundraiser” in the case cited above, meaning, among other things, that we did not at any time solicit funds, assets, or property on our client’s behalf.