Case Study: Saint Mary’s College achieves higher alumnae engagement and scales its 24-hour Donor Challenge with Bonterra GiveGab

Saint Mary’s College’s 24-hour donor challenge

Saint Mary’s College, a women’s liberal arts college in Notre Dame, IN, runs a long‑standing 24‑hour Donor Challenge that had become increasingly complex to manage—requiring timely, reliable data, better ambassador and donor experiences, and scalable tools. To address these challenges, Saint Mary’s partnered with Bonterra GiveGab and adopted the Bonterra GiveGab Giving Days platform.

Bonterra GiveGab provided a dedicated project manager, real‑time reporting and dashboards, ambassador toolkits and training, embeddable donation forms, leaderboards and heat maps, and an opt‑in fee‑coverage option. The results: in 2022 Saint Mary’s had 4,559 donors and 4,837 gifts, raising $1.15M; ambassadors connected 276 donors who gave $72,725; 63% of donors (71% of gifts) covered processing fees, yielding $59,747 in fee coverage, and $200,000 in match/challenge funds were unlocked—allowing faster celebration, stronger engagement, and reduced administrative burden thanks to Bonterra GiveGab.

Saint Mary’s College

Danielle Mason

Director of Annual Giving