Keep the Story Alive: Rapid Response Campaign
On the eve of opening night for August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, Portland Playhouse’s $25,000 NEA grant was unexpectedly withdrawn. Working alongside the Executive Director and Communications Director, I helped launch the 'Keep the Story Alive' campaign—a rapid-response initiative that provided our community with a constructive outlet for their collective frustration. By aligning our fundraising with the cultural moment, we successfully filled the funding gap and reinforced the Playhouse’s role as a vital space for storytelling.
Our goal was to raise the lost $25,000 by mobilizing 500 donors. In less than one week, we raised $156,461 from 762 donors, exceeded the original funding gap by over 600%. These funds provided a critical reserve for future productions and expanded our donor base by over 200 new supporters.
Key Contributions:
Rapid Infrastructure Deployment: Within hours of the news, I built and launched a dedicated donation page for the campaign. I ensured the giving experience was frictionless, and that it captured the urgency of the moment.
High-Volume Stewardship: To manage the influx of grassroots support, I developed and executed an accelerated stewardship plan. This included personalized acknowledgments and real-time impact updates to ensure new donors felt the immediate value of their contribution.
Data & Gift Processing: I managed the back-end gift processing for the campaign, providing the leadership team with regular reporting to inform strategic pivots in our outreach.
Mailchimp Links: “The NEA Withdrew Funding. Now what?” | “Together We’re Keeping the Story Alive”
Instagram Links: May 2, 2025 | May 3, 2025 | May 4, 2025
Press Links: “Portland Playhouse Loses $25,000 National Endowment for the Arts Award,” Willamette Week | “NEA Abruptly Pulls Arts Grants on a Massive Scale,” American Theatre | “‘Radical de-investment': $600K cut to Oregon arts groups,” KOIN 6
