San Francisco Foundation

The Challenge

For 75-years, San Francisco Foundation has united government, business, philanthropy and the community to fight for a Bay Area that works for and welcomes all kinds of people. But their priorities had become even more focused: Address the inequities for families and communities historically excluded due to systemic racism.

Mission Minded was hired to help them spark interest from both longtime and new donors to invest in making region-wide, systemic changes. For an established community foundation that had never run a formal fundraising campaign, how could we encourage generous support to ensure families have affordable homes, realize a living wage for all, and increased political participation?

Services

The Insight

Our research and collaboration with Foundation leaders revealed a key insight: donors needed to see their impact not just as individual contributions, but as part of a collective effort with the power to drive systemic change. By shifting the narrative beyond traditional saviorism, we helped donors understand their role in correcting the inequitable systems in which we all participate. This new framework redefined the institution—not just as a vehicle for personal or family philanthropy—but as an energizing force that could unite donors in pursuit of a shared, transformative goal.

The Journey

We kept the values and needs of both the donors and the Foundation’s mission front and center as we developed the fundraising communications strategy for the campaign. From this the campaign name was born: Collective Power. The donor messages work because they focus not on what the Foundation needs, but what donors can be part of achieving. We struck the right balance of emotion, reason, and urgency that made the case across a suite of bold fundraising tools.

The Impact

The board — frontline fundraising ambassadors – love how the case brochure gives them a tool for donor conversations. Our work together led to a healthy way for everyone at the Foundation to speak about shared goals of equity in a way that appeals to new donors already interested in this issue, to more traditional community foundation donors who may be learning about it for the first time.

Mission Minded’s understanding of the definition of equity, asset- based framing, and lifting others up in a non-savior way is advanced. I really appreciate that we don’t have to teach you this stuff.

Fred Blackwell, CEO, San Francisco Foundation