Donor Segmentation & Recurring Giving – Eugene Symphony

For this project, I was part of a three-person team working with Eugene Symphony to help them grow their base of recurring donors. We dug into everything we could find about their existing donors, giving history, how the symphony had been communicating with them, competitors, and which programs seemed to resonate most.

From that foundation, we grouped donors into segments based on how often they gave and how engaged they seemed, things like occasional supporters, loyal annual givers, and people with real potential to give more. Then we had honest conversations about what each group would actually need to hear before they'd feel ready to commit to a monthly gift.

With the segments in place, we mapped out each group's journey, where they typically crossed paths with the symphony (email, the website, live events), what might be holding them back, and what could tip them from a one-time gift toward something ongoing. That research shaped a campaign concept built around making monthly giving feel approachable, less like a financial obligation and more like a simple, meaningful way to keep live music and community programs alive.

My contributions spanned a few areas: I helped build out the segmentation and competitor analysis, wrote messaging tailored to each donor group, and worked to turn our research into practical recommendations for the symphony's email and newsletter strategy.