Chestnut Hill College
Chestnut Hill College
Beyond Resilience, the Campaign for Chestnut Hill College.
In January 2022, Chestnut Hill College publicly launched Beyond Resilience, a two-pronged campaign to honor the retirement of its 30-year president, Sister Carol Jean Vale, SSJ, Ph.D., and achieve her single wish for the college’s future: long-term financial viability and sustainability.
Think It First spearheaded the digital and communication strategy, content and copy, branding, website design and development, video, and collateral to bring this unique campaign to life. We even designed the label for a custom beer brewed just for the cause by local Chestnut Hill Brewery aptly named, “Vale Pale Ale”.
The Power of Story
In getting to know Chestnut Hill College and Sister Carol, it became clear to us that stories would drive this initiative. Everyone had an anecdote. Everyone remembered something about the interactions with the president. From lifelong friends to recent graduates, everyone had a story.
We solicited and developed written thoughts from the Chestnut Hill College community to feed the blog at beyondresilience.chc.edu. We also dreamt up and produced a video series to tell the fascinating story of Sister Carol. Both of these efforts captured the hearts of the Chestnut Hill Community. And both drove endowment gifts.
Results
Beyond Resilience wasn’t like other campaigns. It was a groundswell sparked by Sister Carol’s tenure and legacy and an ambitious goal as a community to shape the next 100 years at Chestnut Hill College.
In numbers, the Beyond Resilience fundraising campaign exceeded its $12M donation goal, and Chestnut Hill College has seen an increase in its click-through and attendance rates. The Philadelphia College now stands on sustainable financial ground and has welcomed a new incoming President. Most importantly, Sister Carol received the recognition and celebration she deserved.
You all pushed us to capture and tell these stories. Most of us didn’t realize they even existed. Our community is obsessed with them and they’re driving people to make endowment gifts.
They’ve done a comprehensive strategic communication plan, which includes new approaches. We’d never done paid social media before, so they did an in-depth analysis of the numbers. Also, they’ve helped us immensely with writing and design aspects, ensuring all the branding and marketing elements are cohesive and distinct throughout the year. Overall, we’ve had all these balls in the air, and Think It First has helped us connect everything and bring it together at a high level.
Erin Wooley, MBA, Vice President for Institutional Advancement, Chestnut Hill College
