St. Vincent Meals on Wheels
Los Angeles, California

Client Challenge:
In Los Angeles, many good causes compete for donors by hosting high-dollar, high-profile special events and relying on celebrity spokespeople to convey their message.

As a behind-the-scenes charity, St. Vincent Meals on Wheels was faced with the challenge of quietly winning enough individual donors to continue its vital work: delivering hot meals and warm greetings to over 2,000 seniors and homebound adults every day of the year.

Schultz & Williams Approach:
Schultz & Williams first began working with St. Vincent Meals on Wheels in 1989, when the program had only a few thousand donors. Its approach initially centered on creating top-of-mind awareness of the program, developing relationships with donors and providing new opportunities to give. Rather than acquiring donations through celebrity-studded special events, Schultz & Williams has helped St. Vincent Meals on Wheels build a loyal community of support. The strategy included a series of direct-mail appeals to donors and new prospects, and communications tools that shared stories about St. Vincent clients and volunteers, and illustrated how donors' gifts make a profound difference in the lives of seniors and other homebound people.

Results:
Today, St. Vincent Meals on Wheels has more than 50,000 donors. It is the largest privately funded meals on wheels program in the United States.
And giving continues to grow. Schultz & Williams helped St. Vincent establish successful donor clubs – including the Breakfast Club, for donors to give $365 to pay for one breakfast every day of the year for a needy senior, and the Circle of Angels for gifts of $500 to $10,000 or more. Because its grassroots base of support has grown so significantly, St. Vincent Meals on Wheels is now receiving major gifts.

Daryl Twerdahl, Director of Annual Giving, St. Vincent Meals on Wheels says, “St. Vincent Meals on Wheels began working with Schultz & Williams in 1989 when we had a few thousand donors. S&W helped us create program awareness, develop relationships with donors and provide people with opportunities to give. Today, we have more than 50,000 donors, and we’ve grown to become the largest privately funded Meals on Wheels program in the U.S.”

This fundraising success can be attributed to how St. Vincent and Schultz & Williams continue to tell the Meals on Wheels story. Supporters of St. Vincent Meals on Wheels are helping the neediest of the needy that are often forgotten in this glamorous city.