Tight Lines Digital helps non-profit run annual fundraising campaign

With COVID-19 wiping out large gatherings such as non-profit banquets, a long-time Tight Lines Digital client was forced to turn to an online auction in 2020 for its annual fundraising.

Working on a short timeline, Tight Lines Digital helped Schrems West Michigan Trout Unlimited put together a successful campaign, raising more than $18,500 in donations and auction items. The effort included an auction website, email campaign, YouTube videos, and social media posts.

Tight Lines Digital worked with chapter volunteers and EventGroove to build an attractive and user-friendly online auction at swmtu.org/auction. This included organizing the project scope and timeline to hit key milestones. The graphic design was inspired by a poster commissioned for the event, thus tying together all the graphic elements. The entire site was made to be mobile-friendly.

Email played a big role in getting results. In the weeks leading up to the five-day auction, emails were sent to the chapter’s email list promoting high-interest items up for auction and the benefit that comes out of the auction. In the final days before the auction, the emails included links to videos of key people urging participation. Each day of the auction a new email featured specific items up for bid.

Tight Lines Digital also helped created 11 short YouTube videos from key community and environmental partners. These were edited with limited resources and time. Each video was shared in emails and on Facebook. The playlist of the 11 videos is shown below.