Let's Build a Headquarters: Independent Residential Living of Central Indiana

I'm putting together step-by-step analyses of some of my favorite projects. This one's essentially a case study of a fundraising case study.

Imagine you run an organization that provides employment, social-networking, fitness and wellness services to persons with disabilities. Imagine that your main office occupies 40% of a small-town strip mall, near but not in the city in which most of the people you serve actually live, with parts and pieces of the rest of your operations scattered around the center of your state. Wouldn't you want your key personnel under one roof—right near the people you serve?

That was one of two challenges confronting Independent Residential Living of Central Indiana (IRL), a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Founded in 1985, IRL began as the operator of two group homes for persons with disabilities. By 2005, it had expanded its services dramatically and outgrown its patchwork of temporary office locations. But to build a real headquarters, it needed money—and as a non-profit, that meant embarking on a fundraising campaign.

Problem number two: Central Indiana's known for motor sports. Indianapolis 500. Brickyard 400. NHRA Fall Nationals. At the time I started working with IRL of Central Indiana, guess what today's IndyCar called itself? Indy Racing League, or IRL. When my client's operations were new, and its services consisted only of its original group homes, the name was descriptive (and the other IRL wasn't yet the IRL). Fast forward, and you're looking at an organization whose name suited its operations about as much as its fragmented network of satellite venues matched its operational needs.

By the time I entered the picture, IRL had put together a plan and elevation for the building, and a structured approach to implementing the full complement of person-centered programming that its innovative leadership had planned, all within a $2,273,500 capital campaign. Now the organization needed a case study it could present to potential funders, one that supported its cause and made a case for the money.

The not-so-secret gotcha of fundraising: Every campaign competes with other equally deserving organizations for a finite pool of donor money. To achieve fundraising goals, you need to show what you need in the context of why you excel, and who's helping lead you to greatness.

So my strategic approach to IRL's case study brochure began with a discovery phase: in-person, one-on-one interviews with every senior staff member, from the executive director to the heads of counseling, IT, HR, etc., as well as with several of its consumers (IRL's term for "clients"). I asked each person to tell me about IRL through their eyes.

Their answers all supported IRL's mission, objectives and impact. Everyone was talented, dedicated, focused on consumer needs, devoted to finding new ways to solve old, urgent problems. That cohesive dedication made it easy to become a targeted advocate for IRL's focus as well as its campaign.

To show how IRL excelled and support its need for a unified headquarters, I used real-life stories of how it helped consumers accomplish their life objectives—and how much more it could do if the campaign succeeded. IRL selected three people whose achievements showcased its employment services and four (two individuals and a married couple) who represented its companionship outreach.

I designed the piece with folded dimensions of 8.5" wide by 5.5" high, a size that fits perfectly into a 6" by 9" envelope, which mails at the same postal rates as a #10 envelope. Most of the recipients would receive hand-delivered copies, but I wanted those that went in the mail to stand out from other envelopes. After I finished writing, laying out, and typesetting the case study, I circulated review drafts for comments, made changes in response to client input, and prepared the piece for commercial printing.

The resulting brochure represented IRL through a successful fundraising campaign. The organization now occupies the building I helped it build.

As to the transformation from IRL of Central Indiana to a new identity and even more service innovations? That's a story for another post. (Let's just say I designed their new logo.)

What can I help your organization accomplish?