
Ovrture at Work: Event Follow-Ups
October, 2018
In our Ovrture at Work series, we’re detailing the ways our clients are practically using Ovrture to work for them… maximizing the flexibility and utility of the platform to solve the challenges of the digital advancement office, big and small. This post is presented in partnership with our clients at Pen Bay Medical Center. When we launched their Ovrture system in December 2017, the plan was to use it as a solicitation tool to build custom websites for their major and leadership donors. They have been doing just that with great success, but the story doesn’t end there. As happens with many of our clients over time, they find new ways that Ovrture can solve challenges within their existing processes and workflows.
The Challenge:
As part of the Your Health. Our Future. campaign, the Pen Bay team has hosted several events to connect with major and leadership donors and to discuss the importance of the campaign. In the past, the event process went something like this:
Invite people to the event via mailed invitation
Hold the event, have great conversations, potentially secure some verbal gift commitments
Follow-up with a written thank you note or email
The problem with the written Thank You note or email is that although it’s a nice personal touch, it doesn’t have great potential to leverage momentum following the event. It is challenging to share additional information about the campaign, or to engage the potential donor with content they may find interesting.
The Solution:
Since the donors invited to these events already have their own custom website that the Pen Bay team has built through Ovrture, event follow-ups become even more personal and engaging. The new and improved process looks like this:
Send event invitation via Paperless Post (online invitation and RSVP tracking software). We also suggest embedding event invitations within Ovrture sites.
Hold the event. Mid-way through the event, introduce the CEO to lead a conversation about the hospital’s plans for the future with input from physicians, board members and guests.
Send follow-up email to prospect with link to their personalized site and the passcode to view it. The site is populated with information that reinforces the key messages shared during the event. This includes a personal message from the campaign cabinet member, interest-specific information, and event photos featuring the prospect. The information shared in this version of the site lays the ground for a follow-up call and meeting.
This personalized follow-up delivered through the prospect’s custom website opens the door for a face-to-face meeting with the prospect, development staff member, and cabinet member. Pen Bay has found that in a number of cases, the prospect was ready to make a campaign commitment during that face-to-face meeting.
In Their Own Words:
“We are LOVING using Ovrture to send follow-ups after our donor events. Ovrture makes it very easy to put something elegant, donor-centric and meaningful together with a clear path to moving the prospect to the next stage of cultivation or solicitation. Providing a personal message from one of our cabinet members within the site keeps the focus on our influential volunteers, reinforces the message that key community members are engaged and committed to the project, and makes it that much easier to secure follow-up meetings.”
— Eleanor Willmann, Vice President of Development
If you’re interested in thinking through the ways you might put Ovrture to work for your team, just give us a shout. We’d be happy to walk you through a demo or answer any questions you may have.

Gideon Rosen
Account Supervisor, Client Engagement
Gideon Rosen
Account Supervisor, Client Engagement
Gideon helps clients with whatever is needed to make using Ovrture second nature. He leads the onboarding process to successfully launch new systems and engages with existing clients/tenants to drive adoption.