Case Study: Shining Hope For Communities achieves $1M+ raised and 162% donation growth with Classy

A Grassroots Movement Turns into a Million Dollar Organization

Shining Hope for Communities (SHOFCO) is a grassroots nonprofit begun in 2004 in Nairobi’s Kibera slum by Kennedy Odede that has grown into a multi-site organization (Kibera & Mathare) with about 220 employees. After opening the Kibera School for Girls and expanding services, SHOFCO struggled with fragmented fundraising platforms, a small administrative team, and a large backlog of donations that made donor tracking, reengagement, and streamlined campaigns difficult.

SHOFCO consolidated online fundraising on Classy and integrated it with Salesforce, enabling unified campaign management, goal tracking, and donor segmentation. The change cut administrative effort, unlocked targeted fundraising strategies, and drove strong results: more than $1.09M raised on Classy, a featured “A Path Appears” campaign that brought 481 new donors and $65.6K on the platform ($165.6K with a match), an 83% increase in holiday donations, and overall donation growth of 162% (2012–2014).

Shining Hope For Communities

Lexi Garber

Director of Community and Outreach