Case Study: Covenant House achieves millions in fundraising and boosts youth engagement with Blackbaud TeamRaiser

Covenant House uses Sleep Out events to drive out homelessness

Covenant House, founded in 1972 to help homeless, abused and trafficked youth, launched the Sleep Out in 2011 to simulate homelessness and deepen public engagement. The organization’s challenge was keeping younger supporters involved and scaling the event nationally—particularly by engaging young professionals and increasing participant-driven fundraising.

Using Blackbaud’s TeamRaiser peer-to-peer platform and its virtual fundraising toolkit, Covenant House customized the Sleep Out experience and empowered participants to raise funds online. The campaign grew quickly: since inception participants have spent more than 3,500 nights sleeping out and raised over $14.5 million; in 2014 there were 28 events with 1,973 participants raising $6.7 million, the Young Professional Edition raised $685,000 across six cities, events sold out, and about 70% of revenue came from online donations.

Covenant House

Gina Butler

Covenant House