550. How It's Built: How Perkins School for the Blind Transformed their Fundraising, Customer Experience + Brand - Stephanie Jones Wagle
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Overview
Meet Stephanie. In this "How It's Built" episode, she’s sharing the journey of how the Perkins School for the Blind transformed their fundraising, customer experience and brand. From rebuilding their websites to reimagining direct mail, Stephanie unveils the strategies that have breathed new life into a 200-year-old institution 🏫 This conversation is packed with actionable insights for nonprofits looking to modernize their approach, expand their reach, and create a true sense of belonging for all. 🌍 Tune in for fresh ideas and stay for the incredible mission of this org.
💡 Learn
The Impact of the Perkins School for the Blind
How It’s Built: How they Transformed their Fundraising, Customer Experience + Brand (and how you can too!)
Pro Tips + Lessons Learned
Today’s Guest
Stephanie Jones Wagle, Senior Director, Marketing & Annual Giving, Perkins School for the Blind
“We set out when we redesigned the website to prove that accessible websites could be beautiful.”
Episode Transcript
Download Full Episode Transcript Here
Episode Highlights
Stephanie’s story + journey to where she is today (4:00)
Details about Perkins Schools for the Blind (6:30)
How to raise awareness in a noisy world (8:40)
Creating for accessibility (11:25)
Fundraising transformation that’s happened from pouring into customer experience (18:15)
Evolving brand and marketing strategies (22:30)
How Perkins School transformed their fundraising, customer experience + brand (24:20)
A powerful story of philanthropy in Stephanie’s life (33:35)
Stephanie’s One Good Thing: Take vacation and make sure your team takes vacation too. (35:55)
How to connect with Perkins School + Stephanie (38:30)
Impactful Quotes
"Our fundamental mission is to help children with disabilities find their place in the world." -Stephanie
One in four people in the United States has a disability. 240 million children around the world have a disability." -Stephanie
"It takes a lot more time to walk to your mailbox, walk back to your house, look at your mail, than it does to scroll through an Instagram post. So you're actually getting more quality time in the mail." -Stephanie
"There's no shame. So while one of the things we are trying to do with our social media platform is advocate for disability inclusion, we're trying to do it in a way that's always positive and always educating versus telling people they're doing it wrong." -Stephanie
"Everyone who works at Perkins is part of our mission and a mission ambassador." - Stephanie
"We are wildly innovative institution. In fact, my favorite word to describe it, our superintendent and president Ed basso uses, is undaunted.” -Stephanie
Playbook for focusing on brand, audience + revenue ⬇️
Create and use a comprehensive style guide and messaging guide
Evolve the brand's look and feel with vibrant design
Empower all staff to be brand ambassadors using tools like Canva
Use data to understand opportunities and risks in fundraising
Focus on donor acquisition, especially for planned and major gifts
Prioritize accessibility in all digital content and platforms
Iterate on messaging based on community feedback
Balance ambition with practicality - "Perfection is the enemy of done"
Connect with Stephanie + Perkins School for the Blind
Instagram / Website / Stephanie on LInkedIn
Connect with Jon
Connect with Becky
CONNECT WITH WE ARE FOR GOOD
Join the We Are For Good Community
You can think of it as the after-party to each podcast episode 🥳
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