Since 1992, Neighbors 4 Neighbors has been connecting neighbors in need with those who can help within their Miami suburb. The nonprofit, initially an initiative of a local new station, began in the wake of Hurricane Andrew, which is still, tragically, the most devastating hurricane to ever hit Florida.

The nonprofit facilitates relationships between nonprofits and the people they can best serve by investing in resource development, building collaboration, and highlighting causes through their connections to media. 

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Background

After Hurricane Andrew devastated many communities in the early ‘90s, reporters from WCIX – Channel 6, a local TV news station in Florida, jumped to cover the storm’s effects on their community. But after telling story after story of loss, the news organization decided to do more than simply report on the damage. The station set up a nonprofit branch, initially called Neighbors Helping Neighbors, to help their community rebuild. With this initiative, they were able to connect Floridians looking for housing and resources with those who could help. The effort was so successful that the station founded a separate nonprofit, called Neighbors 4 Neighbors, after the initial crisis passed.

Three decades later, Neighbors 4 Neighbors still responds to local crises. As the longest-running nonprofit connected to a news station, their local reach is bolstered by their media connections, which they use to highlight the resources of our private and community-based partners to serve more families. 

Newsrooms are agile organizations that balance quick coverage of developing issues with deep knowledge of their community and expertise of long-term trends in the area. To connect those in need to those who have the resources to help, Neighbors 4 Neighbors needs to have the same balance of speed and local knowledge. 

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But Givesmart, the donation platform Neighbors 4 Neighbors were using for the last few years, couldn’t keep up. When Neighbors 4 Neighbors staff sat down to set up a new campaign, they found themselves mired in a messy backend. In short, Givesmart’s complexity slowed down fundraising efforts. Each donation page took too many hours to personalize to the degree the platform required, turning it into a fundraising hindrance instead of a help.

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“[There were] too many steps in setting up a donation page, too many options for personalization. You would think personalization would be good, but they went too overboard, which made it easy to miss a section and make errors.” Katy Meagher, President and CEO

Neighbors 4 Neighbors President and CEO Katy Meagher stumbled across Zeffy in a Facebook ad and was immediately intrigued. Zeffy reminded Meagher of fundraising systems the organization had used before Givesmart. She and her team had missed the simplicity of the old platforms, so they decided to give Zeffy a try. 

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“The demo video was in-depth and explained all my questions. Also, it looked and acted like other platforms we had used, which was the reason we liked our old system. For example, embed forms, which we love, but the ability to add videos to donation pages, is a big feature we never had before!” Katy Meagher

Meagher was thrilled by the balance of familiarity and exciting new features she found in Zeffy. Campaigns were easy to set up, personalize, and launch. Meagher was able to connect her neighbors to the help they needed in minutes, instead of hours. New-to-her features like videos deepened the nonprofit’s connections to their media roots and offered new ways to reach help.

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“Zeffy understands non-profit fundraising and did not skimp on the features that allow us to make an impact and look professional at the same time.” Katy Meagher

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On top of that, Zeffy built more margin into Neighbors 4 Neighbors’ budget. The fees Givesmart charged had cut into funds that could have gone to raises for their staff or helped plan events for their neighbors. When Meagher realized how much their new favorite fundraising platform was saving the nonprofit, she was delighted.