Kicki Aldrin: How Stockholm City Mission raised almost €4m in the middle of a pandemic

At the height of the Coronavirus pandemic, Stockholm City Mission faced a major fundraising challenge: how to raise enough money to reconstruct a church to provide a vital meeting place for people in need. The nonprofit ’s fundraising manager, major donors and foundations Kicki Aldrin shares how, in less than a year, they raised almost €4m – and from new donors.

In the spring of 2020, in the middle of a raging pandemic, the Stockholm City Mission began the work of collecting at least 30 million krona (€2.6m), a third of the cost necessary to rebuild and renovate the church of St. Paul.

We faced a huge challenge, and it was also the first time we had undertaken such a large-scale fundraising campaign.

Yet by December 2020, we had raised SEK 45 million (€3.9m)!

How did we do it? Let me take it from the beginning.

The purpose (an excerpt from our Case for Support)

In the heart of Stockholm, at Mariatorget, is St Paul, a meeting place open to everyone and offering a variety of activities. In an increasingly polarized society, with a growing proportion of people living in poverty and loneliness and where many people experiencing homelessness completely lack access to both welfare and security, having a meeting place like St. Paul is extra important.

The idea of ​​a meeting place for everyone was born in 2015 when the Stockholm City Mission took over the church of St Paul. However, the property was run down and needed thorough renovation and rebuilding to create a larger and better space that would open it up to more participants.

Financing

A whopping 90 million Swedish krona was needed to finance the reconstruction. This was funded partly through loans and equity, but we also needed to raise 30 million krona ourselves – and from new donors to avoid parasitising the organization’s annual collection of funds. Did we dare to believe this was possible? At the same time, the pandemic began to gain momentum…

Implementation and success factors

Carrying out such a large fundraising campaign requires many factors to work together. Everyone involved must also be able to set aside the necessary time – and it’s a lot of time!

The purpose and the need

We defined our purpose carefully, with an emphasis on the result we would achieve with the help of the donations we sought. We made it clear that these gifts would make a crucial difference.

Internal conditions

To be successful in a project like this, board, management, employees – everyone, must feel a genuine commitment and contribute to the work.

Our board approved our proposal, and handed the collection task to the management of the Stockholm City Mission. The director (incredibly competent, highly confident and experienced in our issues) was appointed project owner and formed a fundraising group with our major donor team. Each having the specific skills and commitment needed for this task.

External conditions

Four former chairmen with great knowledge of the organization became ambassadors and worked actively to contact potential new donors. Their contribution was extremely important for the final result.

After they had made initial contact, the project owner and myself took over. We also contacted other donors, foundations, companies and private individuals who had potential but had not yet given large gifts. Most contacts were made by telephone and some by mail. If there was interest, we invited them to a meeting on site, or sometimes on Teams. There, they could see with their own eyes what the result would be if we were successful through the architectural sketches and our elaborate presentation.

Kicki Aldrin on a site visit with a foundation that contributed to the appeal

We also received great support from some companies and individuals who contacted potential donors in their own networks.

Donors with potential

Stockholm City Mission annually raises around SEK 200,000 million. This is money used to run our existing businesses.

In other words, we needed to find new donors who had the interest and monetary ability to contribute. Thanks to our close work with ambassadors’ and our own networks, we succeeded very well in this, with donations coming in from major donors, companies and foundations.

Overall, we had around 70 meetings, and about 60% went on to donate to the campaign, showing how important to it is have a long list of potential donors.

Loyalty

In my work with major donors, I always want them to know and feel that their investment is the best they’ve made.

Since the funds for St. Paul came from different categories of donors, I designed specific programmes for each category based on their wants and needs. Let me give two examples.

We knew companies that contributed would want visibility of this – with their customers, employees and other stakeholders – in order to strengthen their brand through their commitment. We produced communication packages that they could in turn use across both their channels and ours.

Regular communication also helped to keep donors up to date with the project. Everyone who contributed received a regular info email during the 18 months of construction. We talked about the different phases of the reconstruction. Pictures and videos were sent along, and as it was a pandemic, we invited people to digital information meetings where they also had the opportunity to ask questions. I had email and phone contact and was available for questions. With the end of the pandemic, digital meetings were replaced by physical meetings on site, which was fantastic for everyone.

Many of our donors have expressed gratitude and joy at being so “close” to the project all the time. Several donors are still giving to other projects.

The new St Paul was inaugurated on December 7, 2022, of course with the presence of several donors.

Artist Stina Wirsén painted a fresco on the large wall in the dining room with the theme “A place for all”. At the top, she has handwritten donor names as a reminder of their commitment.

Two questions:

I have had the privilege of lecturing on this amazing campaign and usually get two questions.

Did the pandemic affect our fundraising?

Yes, for the better. Many of the donors are people high up in business and normally difficult to reach and get meetings with. During the pandemic, more were at home and we had an easier time reaching them.

What would I say is the single most important of all success factors in a major fundraising campaign?

The honest and genuine commitment of everyone working on the campaign. The donor feels that you are passionate about and believe in the purpose yourself. It can be decisive for a yes or no.

The icing on the cake

As well as achieving our target, Stockholm City Mission also won the Swedish Fundraising Association’s “Fundraising Organization of the Year” award in 2020 for this campaign.

Kicki Aldrin

About Christina “Kicki” Aldrin

Kicki is a trained marketing economist and has worked in marketing and communications for many years. In 2007 she took the step to move from the private sector to nonprofit activity. Since then, she has worked in fundraising and is an EFA certified fundraiser. At Stockholm City Mission, Kicki has specialized in major gifts from private individuals and foundations, and is fundraising manager, major donors and foundations.

She loves creating and developing close and long-lasting relationships and always wants “her” donors to feel that they have made their best investment ever.