Polly Bond 2025 - Our Shared Story Stewardship Campagin

General Excellence

Best Campaign

Goals of the Entry:

"Our Shared Story" is Trinity's annual stewardship campaign for 2024. The theme of the campaign "Our Shared Story" was drawn from an excerpt of a Frederic Buechner poem. (See below.) The goal was to remind our parishioners of our shared bond as a congregation - how each of our individual stories are interwoven, and how it takes all of us to create the community we have. Ultimately, goals were to raise stewardship money and build feelings of connection.

"And my story and your story are all part of each other too . . .

if only because we have sung together and prayed together and seen each other's faces so that we are at least a footnote at the bottom of each other's stories. In other words, all our stories are in the end one story, one vast story about being human, being together, being here. Does the story point beyond itself? Does it mean something? What is the truth of this interminable, sprawling story we all of us are? 

— Frederic Buechner, Secrets in the Dark (2006)

Audience of the Entry:

Pledging Trinity members being asked to renew their pledges - and those who are new to giving, encouraging them to begin pledging for the first time.

Campaign Timeline and Links:

Initial USPS mailing on September 7, 2024

  • Four segmented mailings, each with an author from the targeted demographic (4 age groups).
  • For those who pledged the previous year, the letters include the following merged data fields:
    • Salutation, amount pledged last year, and suggested amounts based on increasing their pledge 10%, 20% or 30%
  • USPS Mailing includes:
  • Email 
    • Our Shared Story Initial Email, contained same segments and merged data  (Example - doesn't show merged data, when viewed on mobile or in email, the background image only does a small border, for some reason via this link it is very big.)
    • Our Shared Story Gatherings Schedule (Email)

Our Shared Story Postcards

  • Throughout the campaign, "Our Shared Story" postcards, designed to look like vintage books were mailed every 2-3 weeks. Each postcard showed a photo of the author, and a quote or excerpt from their story, which could be accessed in full by QR code, redirecting to the website.

"Our Shared Story" Webpage

  • Landing page for all things stewardship, when active - included graphic for Our Shared Story gatherings and the schedule with links to individual events.

"Our Shared Story" In-Person Gatherings 

  • At these in-person gatherings the goal was to create opportunities to gather and share the stories of faith, doubt, and grace that shape our lives, discovering where they overlap and intertwine. Each was hosted at an off-campus location such as a restaurant/bar or parishioner home. The event would begin with 30 minutes of socializing, a welcome and prayer, a pre-planned story share, and then an invitation for others to share. 

Worship Service Story Share

  • As the new Director of Advancement, but also a longtime parishioner - I decided to bring the "Our Shared Story" theme to the congregation and shared this personal speech at three church services on November 18, 2024.
  • Video Link - Scroll to 53:11

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