Results: Community support, awareness, fundraising, recruitment, and infrastructure are all significantly improved, especially for a program with such limited staff resources. Achieved independence from county CASA program and developed board. Event held April 2001 raised $9,820 in individual and corporate gifts as well as a $30,000 foundation grant. An additional $4,000 was raised through new direct-mail appeals.

Results: November 2001 event brought $43,000 in donations and $114,000 in pledges through 2005. Entire board was trained in the model and grew in strength. Program is in the process of expanding.

Results: Multi-faceted action plan developed by professional firm resulted in substantial media exposure through newspaper ads. Increased community awareness and interest. In part due to this effort, number of volunteers is up 39% over two years. Over same period, number of children served is up 18%. Volunteer pool is stronger than ever, and retention is up. Collaborative marketing plan to include ten CASA programs, Texas CASA, and a local TV station developed but not yet implemented.

Results: Full-scale implementation of the Axelrod model resulted in increased and more diverse funding, more diverse fundraising volunteers, and an inspired board. Major event held in 2000 raised $270,000 in gifts and pledges. Board-driven follow-up activities generated an additional $60,000. Second event raised $160,000. Related challenge grants of $225,000 in 2000 and $125,000 in 2001 were received from a national foundation. Events also prompted numerous inquiries from attendees regarding volunteering.

Results: Fundraising consultant generated regular flow of proposals including one to interested donor that generated a challenge grant of $225,000. This grant allowed them to hire a full-time, senior fundraiser. Consultant also conducted analysis of program database that enabled newly hired staff Director of Planning & Development to increase individual donations by $79,737 in one year (68% growth). Over two years, budget has grown 45%. Financial stability achieved; board strengthened and energized.

Results: Implemented Axelrod model on a scale appropriate to agency size. Developed and creatively adapted “point of entry” courtroom drama for maximum effectiveness by taking it to workplaces after the attempt to bring people to the program proved unsuccessful. Shared script with 3 other CASA programs. Major event held in February 2001 raised $10,418 in donations and $10,000 in pledges over two years. Total individual donations in 2001 were $23,800, up from $1,000 the prior year. Another large event scheduled for February 2002. Achievements overcame obstacles of small staff and limited board participation. However, board expanded membership in part as a result of event.

Results: Full-scale implementation of the Axelrod model helped program to increase budget by 100% over 2 years as well as to reach 23% more children via 80% more volunteers. Major event held in 2000 raised $44,000 and over $150,000 in five-year pledges. Event also tripled the number of donors giving $1,000 or more to the agency (from 6 to 20). Activities generated a subsequent challenge grant of $15,000 from one foundation, a $105,000 grant to hire a development coordinator for 3 years from a second foundation, and $100,000 over three years from a third foundation. Another result is the cultivation of four new board members and a corporate partner.

Results: Successful staff retreat identified three keys to staff retention. Program has implemented all three: a pay raise of almost 20%, a retirement benefit, and burnout prevention activities. Changes in staff retention have not yet been measured. However partly due to this project, the number of children served has grown 13% over two years. Over the same period, the number of volunteers has grown by 7% and the organization budget by 17%.

Results: Full-scale implementation of the Axelrod model helped program to increase budget by 58% over two years as well as reaching 60% more children via 82% more volunteers. Two major events held: one in September 2000, which raised $45,000, and another in November 2000, which raised $65,000. Number of individual donors and average size of their gifts have grown significantly. Strategic alliances were formed with financial community to pursue further gifts. Recruitment of at least 8 new volunteers achieved directly as a result of events. Networking initiated with other CASA programs to share the methodology.

Results: Implemented a volunteer-to-volunteer recruitment project which generated 188 inquiries in the first nine months of the grant and over 200 trained volunteers from the last three classes. As a result, the total number of volunteers increased from 615 to 692 in two years. Over the same period, the number of children served grew from 855 to 913 in spite of a major database cleanup to more legitimately classify the status of cases. The multi-faceted approach included holding an event called “Introduce a Friend to Child Advocates,” which was attended by 80 volunteers and their friends. Also conducted a survey of volunteer willingness to assist with recruitment, developed new materials in response to the results of the survey, and had volunteers post flyers and/or set up times for staff to make presentations at their place of employment or other involvement.

Results: Implementation of Axelrod model resulted in $300,000 in gifts and pledges over five years at 2001 event that was entirely underwritten. In turn, the program was able to hire a full-time development director. These results helped program to increase budget over two years by 416%, with 400% additional children served by 191% more volunteers. Contacts resulting from this project have also generated in-kind donations such as website development, a specialized printer, and video production services worth $25,000. New board members have come as a result of this project as well. Finally, staff and volunteer diversity are improved.

Results: Use of a professional marketing firm to conduct focus groups, produce radio ads responsive to that information, and buy air time reasonably resulted in a vast increase in interest from potential volunteers. Project nearly doubled the size of one training class after the ads ran compared to the prior training. Ads also increased both telephone inquiries and hits to the program’s website. Unfortunately, many of these new recruits did not follow through by completing training. Program concludes that commitment level of these new recruits was soft because ads did not convey the serious effort involved in completing training and entering into service. Since the media market is shared by other CASA programs, it is likely that they benefited from the increased exposure as well.