Snowball Success Story

Friends of Franklin Parks used Snowball to make donating easier for their supporters, and broke new fundraising records in the process. Read on to learn how!

Zack Hawayek
Friends of Franklin Parks

What we were looking for in a fundraising platform

“We knew we needed to get better at infusing technology to make it easier for donors. Because if it’s difficult to donate, or if it takes too many clicks, we’re going to lose supporters. So we were looking to make donating clean and easy for people, in addition to having Text-to-Give functionality. We wanted to streamline everything into one system for them.

Another key piece was implementation and how easy it was for us to use the technology. And Snowball plugged right in. The user interface is very clean and easy to understand. We recently hired a new assistant, and she got into the Snowball platform and picked it up in probably 5 to 10 minutes.

Snowball just made it really easy to get started, and also made it easy for the people who support us to donate.That combination makes Snowball a great tool.”

Snowball just made it really easy to get started, and also made it easy for the people who support us to donate. That combination makes Snowball a great tool.”

Zack Hawayek
Friends of Franklin Parks

The Snowball Effect

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revenue generated on one auction with Snowball Fundraising

bids generated on one auction with Snowball Fundraising

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increase in auction revenue with Snowball

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revenue raised on the Snowball Fundraising Platform in 6 months

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Raised yearly

Donors

Average donations

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Revenue Generated in 6 months

Snowball makes it easy for our nonprofit to fundraise, and for our donors to give

“Nonprofit organizations have to piecemeal things together so often; having a one-stop-shop platform that’s always adding new features is very attractive. That’s the stuff that gets me excited!

Using Snowball’s tools has definitely been significant for us—whether it’s ticket sales, just regular donations or people buying items. We’ve had nothing but positive feedback from our supporters when it comes to the silent auction, how easy it is to text to donate, or how easy it is to go on our website to complete a donation.”

Our first Snowball auction raised 64% more

“I think our best single Snowball fundraising campaign so far has been our record-setting auction, which raised over $41,000. The previous year we raised $25,000 with an auction that wasn’t online—so it was the same silent auction format, but we were able to increase our revenue with the Snowball Fundraising platform.”

Some of the items up for bid in Friends of Franklin Parks’ record-setting 2021 Raise the Roofs auction, using Snowball Auctions.

How we used Snowball to stage a record-setting fundraising event

Snowball QR codes on brochures and event signage make it easy for supporters to engage, bid on auction items and donate.

“Because our Snowball auction was online, we were able to promote it in advance. We were getting bids weeks before the main night of our event.

Text-to-Give functionality was so big for us. The Thursday before the main event, we held a sponsors’ party that had some of the auction items for people to preview and take a look at. We made these little sheets of QR codes for the auction, so that they could scan it and go directly to the items to bid.

Then on the evening of our main event, we posted QR codes that led to our Snowball campaign page; so people scanned it to go to the Snowball platform to donate. And it was awesome when we were able to view Snowball’s Live Thermometer. As the donations were rolling in, we were able to showcase that in real time, which was really fun and exciting. There’s someone’s name up there, and they just donated a thousand dollars! People like seeing that at those types of events.

Snowball gave us the flexibility to do all of those things. Its ease of use, and all of its features, helped us do that for sure.”

Top tip: Successful fundraising events take teamwork

“My top piece of advice is organization and working together as a team to pull off what you’re trying to accomplish. Fundraising is a total team effort. You’ve got to be able to tie all the pieces together, knowing that not just one person’s going to do it. Break down into groups and delegate. Sometimes you kind of feel like you’re out on your own little island, doing your own thing. But when you see all those pieces come together for such a great event for the community, it’s incredible.”

Friends of Franklin Parks works to cultivate stewardship of 900+ acres of historic cultural and natural resources in Franklin, Tenn.

Contact us to learn how Snowball can benefit your organization, or tell us about your own Snowball Success Story.