SUCCESS STORY
UnidosUS
Nonprofit advocacy organization that addresses the needs of the Latino community receives its first major gifts—and pioneers a new approach to giving.
The Situation
UnidosUS, the country’s largest Latino nonprofit advocacy organization, focuses on issues such as civic engagement, civil rights and immigration, education, health, and housing through research, policy analysis, and awareness. They also partner with nearly 300 nationwide affiliates to serve Latinos at home in their communities. As they approached their 50th anniversary, they partnered with Graham-Pelton to lay a strong foundation for a new campaign and expand and coach their development team.
The Solution
Our work with UnidosUS covered several areas, including planning and executing a three-year campaign to raise $50M, the largest in the organization’s history, which they completed six months early. The campaign helped raise critical funds in four key areas designed to define and grow the Latino experience in America and specifically focused on equality with the vision of expanding the American dream to all Latinos.
As the engagement progressed, Graham-Pelton also supported the development team by leading individual giving efforts, supporting a full restructure of the development office, providing staff training, building a full-scale stewardship effort, and working with the development committee and campaign chairs. These efforts helped UnidosUS reach significant milestones, such as elevating the abilities of the development team, soliciting and receiving the largest individual gifts in the organization’s history, and obtaining commitments from anchor partners. It also generated considerable excitement surrounding the concept of how investing in one’s own community can start a transformational process.
As a result, the campaign asked for—and often received—historically large gifts. It also educated its community on the value of philanthropy through unique approaches such as family giving, in which individuals within a family pooled their resources to make the biggest donation—and impact—possible. In the face of a global pandemic, UnidosUS was able to quickly adapt and develop the Esperanza/Hope Fund to provide large-scale relief to families who most needed it.
The Success
We celebrated several firsts with UnidosUS, including the receipt of their first six- and seven-figure individual gifts and their first planned gift. We also worked closely with them to refine the approach to philanthropy within the Latino community. By engaging early supporters in the Esperanza/Hope Fund and closing key corporate solicitations and a transformative gift, UnidosUS exceeded its campaign goal and strengthened its position in its community.
