Case for Support – Red Rooster Group

School Capital Campaign Brochure

Howard Levy — Mon, 23 Jun 2025 13:56:04 +0000

Yeshivah of Flatbush

School Capital Campaign

We developed the name, logo, messaging, and brochure for this school’s $50 million capital campaign for new buildings and renovations.

Services

Discovery & Stakeholder Insights
Campaign Theme, Name & Logo
Fundraising Messaging
Case for Support Brochure

Transforming Space to Empower the Future

To address pressing infrastructure needs and prepare the next generation of Jewish leaders, Yeshivah of Flatbush launched a bold campaign to reimagine its elementary and middle school facilities.

Challenge

Yeshivah of Flatbush faced several hurdles: aging buildings, overcrowded facilities, and the need for learning environments that match 21st-century education. The school had recently completed a high school campaign and was asking donors for another major investment during a time when giving was also being directed toward Israel and other urgent causes.

Solution

We framed the case in a positive way: the school is so successful that our enrollment exceeds our capacity. We developed a campaign that emphasized both urgency and aspiration. Rooted in the message “our kids deserve more,” the campaign positioned this capital project as an investment not just in facilities, but in children’s education, community pride, and the future of Jewish leadership.

Building a Case That Resonates

Drawing on the themes of joy, pride, and legacy, the case for support framed the investment in these key dimensions:

Educational Excellence: Environments designed for modern pedagogy, enhanced enrichment programs, and improved student-teacher interaction.
Student Transformation: Emphasizing how the new physical space would be transformational for students in their academic learning, social development, and community pride.
Community Investment: A call to invest in the next generation of leaders and sustain the cohesiveness of Brooklyn’s Jewish community.
Fiscal Responsibility: Highlighting a phased, financially prudent approach to construction and the school’s commitment to tight fiscal management.

Telling the Story, Creating a Tactile Experience

The upscale production of the brochure suggests the quality of the new buildings. An extra-thick cover, gold foil stamping, clear foil, vellum overleaf, and satin-finish paper provide a tactile experience to engage affluent donors.

Other Case for Support Projects

Helping a Homeless Organization Reach New Heights

Howard Levy — Thu, 24 Aug 2023 05:41:27 +0000

LifeMoves

Helping a Homelessness Organization Reach New Heights

We helped one of the largest providers of services for the homeless in the country reach unprecedented levels of growth to meet increased needs in Silicon Valley.

Organizational & Brand Strategy
Brand Positioning, Design & Management
Fundraising Campaigns
Fundraising Event Promotion
Corporate Sponsorship Materials
Strategic Messaging & Presentations
CEO Letters & Communications
Annual Reports & Newsletters
Thought Leadership & Client Success Videos
Website Pages & Enhancements
Google Ad Grant Management

A growing homelessness crisis demands effective approaches and funding. LifeMoves tapped into our strategic branding, marketing, and fundraising services to propel the organization to take on this challenge. With a new CEO at the helm, we helped position LifeMoves for success. Over the four years we have worked with this nonprofit, its annual revenue grew from $38 million to $118 million due largely to new government contracts.

Select Results

19% increase

in total amount raised v. prior year

2020 YEAR-END CAMPAIGN

42% increase

in total amount raised v. prior year

2021 YEAR-END CAMPAIGN

43% increase

in average gift amount for lower-level donors

2021 YEAR-END CAMPAIGN

65% increase

in average gift amount for higher-level donors

2021 YEAR-END CAMPAIGN

100% increase

in number of donations by lapsed donors v. prior year

2020 SPRING APPEAL

100% increase

in amount donated by lapsed donors v. prior year

2020 SPRING APPEAL

43% increase

in monthly givers over 2 years

2021 – 2023

475% increase

increase in the amount raised v. prior year

2021 RIDE TO END HOMELESSNESS

73% increase

increase in the amount raised v. prior year

2022 RIDE TO END HOMELESSNESS

The Challenge

LifeMoves first brought on Red Rooster Group to improve its fundraising in March 2020, just as COVID started. The organization needed to keep its 7,000 clients safe and re-trench for the new realities of lockdowns. Since then, the closing of businesses exacerbated the already unprecedented homeless situation due to rising home prices in Silicon Valley. LifeMoves needed to raise money for the short term and develop its brand and fundraising outreach to address growing needs.

Transforming an Organization

Over four years, Red Rooster Group has worked to enhance the organization’s strategic perspective, brand story, fundraising outreach, and marketing communications.

Our brand repositioning work helped reshape perceptions of the organization from a provider of services locally, to a leader that has been recognized by the state with solutions that can be adopted elsewhere. LifeMoves built one of the first modular, interim housing facilities in Northern California (whose opening was attended by the Governor) and won contracts for six more sites, including one of the largest in Northern California.

We have managed fundraising campaigns that have brought back lapsed donors and increased the amounts raised, including their largest campaign ever, and promoted fundraising events that attracted key audiences such as high-level donors and elected officials.

Our strategic advice, research, and communications have elevated the organization as it introduced its strategic plan, attracted new corporate and community partners, and set a strong foundation for success.

By introducing new fundraising ideas and best practices, we have increased the organization’s level of sophistication so that it can continue to improve results.

How We Helped

Strategy

Organizational, Fundraising, Marketing, Branding, & Thought Leadership

Leveraged the CEO as an authoritative voice on the issue to position the organization as a national leader on homelessness.
Developed strategy presentations to convey the needs of homelessness in Silicon Valley and attract funding from corporations.
Supported the organization’s strategic plan by creating a presentation, summary document, webpage, and promoting a series of online events to introduce the strategic plan to high-end donors, government officials, and community partners.

Individual Fundraising

Produce two campaigns per year (spring and year-end), including developing concepts, narrative, and theme, writing and designing direct mail packages and email series, producing videos, creating landing pages and donation pages, social media posts, and handling campaign management. Introduced personalization, custom gift arrays, and efficient mailing techniques.

Major Donor Fundraising

Promote two Principal Giving events annually including all digital strategy, outreach, presentation, journals, and sponsorship packages. Created customized materials and managed customized emailing for 7 Principal Gift Officers.

Fundraising Events

Promote the annual Ride to End Homelessness peer-to-peer fundraising event. Created brand strategy, designed new event logo, developed segmented email strategy and managed all emails, and design other promotion (advertising, banners, etc.). The ride has grown from $40K before us, to $400k in revenue.

Corporate Giving

Support the corporate sponsorship department with a range of strategic and marketing initiatives to shore up corporate support including researching and developing a presentation on homelessness in Silicon Valley and materials to promote sponsorship opportunities for the new interim housing sites and other opportunities.
Created materials to solicit sponsorship naming rights on LifeMoves facilities.

Brand Management

Evolved the organization’s brand to be more authentic — from merely showing happy outcomes to conveying the vulnerabilities of people experiencing homelessness and the complexities of their circumstances.
Balanced their story of interim housing sites with their services, crafting the narrative around their customized, and comprehensive approaches to helping people achieve stability.
Stewarded their brand and updated their colors and overall look to be more dynamic.

Organizational Collateral

Crafted their organizational story and corporate collateral materials.
Designed banners and pop-up displays for community events.
Produce their annual Impact Report.
Write and design their quarterly print and email newsletters.
Write and design the monthly Keygivers email newsletter for monthly supporters.

Website

Set up landing pages in WordPress and donation pages in Classy to support fundraising campaigns.
Create new website sections and pages and update website content as needed.

Videos

Produce videos to tell the organization’s story and elevate its profile. Includes scripting, on-site shooting, and all post-production work.
- Thought Leadership Videos (click and scroll down)
- Client stories
- Services videos
- New Sites
- Other Videos

Communications Planning

Conducted an analysis of all emails sent by the organization over a 2-year period by audience and results, open rate, click rate, etc.
Handle dozens of emails for the organization over the course of the year (developing schedules. writing, designing, testing and approvals, coordination of URLs and lists, documenting, and reporting).

Fundraising & Marketing Continuity

Maintained all outreach, fundraising, website updates, etc. through 2 Executive Directors, a complete turnover of the Marketing Team, and new Chief Philanthropy Officer, and several new VPs of Development, providing stability and continuity throughout the organization’s growth.

What the Client Says

“I had the opportunity to work with Howard and the Red Rooster Group team during organizational change and growth initiatives at LifeMoves, one of the largest providers of homeless services in Silicon Valley. Howard’s talent for blending analytical thinking and creative problem-solving became critical for our transformation. He was a true partner and collaborator in our success.

He and his team are strong in revitalizing brands, launching groundbreaking initiatives, and tackling complex social issues. What truly sets Howard apart is his ability to look beyond immediate challenges. He envisions comprehensive solutions that drive long-term success, blending his expertise in behavioral psychology and fundraising with a genuine passion for creating positive change.

When you work with Howard, you’re not just gaining expertise; you’re partnering with a thought leader who expands your horizons and helps you achieve audacious goals.”

Marie Amoruso Jackson, Chief Marketing Officer

“I’m finally wrapping up my day and wanted to tell you all how great you were today. You totally hit it out of the park (just like my Dodgers last night!). We heard nothing but totally positive comments afterward. Your suggestions on how to engage the team right from the start were spot on. Many, many thanks.”

Katherine Finnigan, Development

“AMAZING….thank you Amit & Erin for making all this happen so quickly after our conversations…

Best“

Marie Jackson, Chief Marketing Officer

“This is such an understatement of what you did, Amit, what with the testing for ALL of these plus sorting out exclusions. Thank you for your amazing work!”

Erin Hayes, Database Specialist

“This is what you’ll call a well-oiled and amazing machine!!! Thank you!”

Camille Gonzalez Kennedy | Vice President of Philanthropy

[re: our customized sending of emails for spring events]

“Brian, not sure who is doing your videos and online appeals, but I want to give a heartfelt congratulations to the folks responsible for this one. The subject heading is what I always tell nonprofits who want coverage or for people to actually read what you’ve done. As a professional in the business for more than 40 years, I don’t give kudos often. This one works.”

Rita

“You all rocked the webinar this morning… huge thanks to all that you did as we went through all the learnings and even our ‘interesting’ glitches on the back end. Your calm and expertise really did shine…

We so appreciate you…”

Marie Jackson, Chief Marketing Officer

Telling the Story of Poverty’s Impact

Howard Levy — Mon, 23 May 2022 05:24:10 +0000

The Shared Humanity Project

Telling the Story of Poverty’s Impact

Real poverty is almost twice what most people think it is. We helped this organization define its brand and communicate its solution to donors.

Services

Discovery
Brand Positioning & Messaging
Visual Identity
Donor Presentation

Exploring Poverty

We took a deep dive into the various definitions of poverty, measurement indices, history of poverty, and other aspects of economic need.

Developing Their Message

Donors need to understand why this organization’s perspective on poverty matters. We guided their team in crafting a clear description of their work and its impact.

Who We Are

We are passionate experts bringing decades of experience in programs that address poverty. This includes on-the-ground experience delivering programs in the most underserved and at-risk communities as well as decades of research on safety net and family support programs in public and private think tanks.

What We Do

We are building a national movement to end poverty in the United States by redefining what “poverty” means, measuring it locally and accurately, and educating and engaging individuals and entities from all sectors to work together to eradicate it.

Why We Do It

If it were your child or your parent who lived each day in poverty, with the constant stress that comes with never ending scarcity or the constant danger that comes with living in economically distressed communities, you would feel the urgency to solve it. We started The Shared Humanity Project because poverty is solvable when we bring the commitment, creativity, and appropriate priority. Our plan has specific actions that every person and every organization can take to help solve a crisis that affects every one of us, not just the more than 75 million Americans who do not have the financial stability to get by on their own.

Why It Is Important

To allow for millions of Americans to live in the scarcity of poverty when we have the knowledge and the resources to solve it is inhumane. To allow this to be the case, decade after decade is worse. Alternatively, when we ensure that every American has sufficient economic stability, we can transform humanity from what is to what can be, unlocking the potential of all Americans.

What Impact We Have

We aim to transform the way that society views and measures poverty and engage everyone in creating positive change. This effort changes all of us in qualitative and quantitative ways, uniting us and arriving at solutions, together. The long-term impact is a shared experience of life where our potential is realized rather than imagined.

Why Donors Should Support Us

For decades, poverty has been seen as an intractable problem, a “normal” part of American life. Yet it is solvable. We have done the research and built an organization to engage all sectors of society equally to tackle this issue. Our National Plan highlights the extent and depth of poverty in this country. It reveals the number of people living at 50% of median income in each county as a springboard to actions that people can take through our website. It provides an effective answer to the question “What can I do?”

Articulating Their Distinction

And we helped them articulate the core values that make this organization’s approach unique.

Comprehensive

We take a comprehensive approach that cuts across various silos (such as food, wages, housing, etc.).

Interconnected

We bring all sectors together to address this issue.

Practical

We provide a broad array of ways to make a difference and make it easy to take action.

Non-ideological

We offer a range of solutions independent of government support that do not take sides or favor particular ideologies.

Grounded in Research

Our solutions are based on decades of on-the-ground work and research.

Individual Action

We emphasize the shared responsibility of each of us to take action to address this collective societal problem.

Developing the Visual Identity

Visualizing the National Plan

Core to communicating the essence of The National Plan to End Poverty was creating a graphic that shows the audiences, issues, and actions to be taken.

Crafting the Story for Donors

The Case for Support takes donors on a journey. It describes the problem and challenges the norms of measuring poverty, yet it is hopeful. There is a solution.

SELECTED SLIDES SHOWN

We open with an emotional hook and introduce the problem.

Compelling comparisons and graphics help tell the story.

The solution is introduced.

We build the case for supporting a larger vision of societal change.

“Awesome work. Your thoughts and insights are fantastic – and I feel that way every time we speak.”

Mark Bergel, Ph.D, Co-Founder, The Shared Humanity Project

JCC Capital Campaign Brochure

Howard Levy — Sun, 08 Jul 2018 05:25:08 +0000

Sid Jacobson Jewish Community Center

Capital Campaign Uses Stories of Intersecting Lives

To raise money for renovation and expansion at this Jewish Community Center, we used a storytelling approach. We developed the theme of Intersecting Lives to show how the JCC brings together different people from the community.

Services

Campaign Theme & Identity
Campaign Logo & Digital Assets
Core Fundraising Messaging
Campaign Brochure

Challenge

We had to communicate the value of needed upgrades to the existing building as well as a new facility that would serve as a community food hub for those in need.

Solution

Our solution was to use stories to show how integral this JCC was to different populations within the community.

The brochure describes the specific improvements to the building as well as new additions planned, framed around supporting the Jewish community and putting Jewish values into action.

The hand-drawn style of the people and textured stock lend a personal touch, while a pocket contains inserts describing the various giving opportunities for donors.

We designed the brochure around three stories, each featuring three different people who connect at the JCC. The stories are told in panels that show two people but open up to reveal all three.

A spread features quotes about how people will benefit from the capital improvements.

See more examples of capital campaign brochures and learn more about our capital campaign services on our site: CapitalCampaignKit.com

Capital Campaign Website for U.S. Navy Seabees

Howard Levy — Tue, 30 Aug 2016 02:59:00 +0000

CLIENT: U.S. Navy Seabee Historical Foundation

We developed this website as part of a $10 million capital campaign to preserve the legacy of the U.S. Navy’s construction battalions. Our approach for the website was to invite potential donors to explore the Seabees’ ingenuity while learning about the campaign, and the specifics of the museum. The website also describes the campaigns goals and shows mock ups of the exhibits to be created with donor funding. The blog features stories by famous Seabees such as football star Dick Butkus, and Fedex founder, Fred Smith.

Capital Campaign for U.S. Navy Seabee Museum

Howard Levy — Sat, 16 Jul 2016 04:08:09 +0000

U.S Navy Seabees

Capital Campaign for U.S. Navy Seabee Museum

$10 Million Campaign

To preserve the legacy of the U.S. Navy’s construction battalions, the CEC/Seabee Historical Foundation conducted a $10 million capital campaign to fund state-of-the-art exhibits at the U.S. Navy Seabee Museum in Port Hueneme, CA.

Services

Competitive Analysis & Campaign Strategy
Campaign Theme
Core Fundraising Messaging
Campaign Identity & Logo System
Digital Assets & Style Guide
Campaign Website
Campaign Brochure

The Challenge

A Campaign That Had Stalled — and a Donor Base That Had Shrunk

The CEC/Seabee Historical Foundation had an ambitious goal: raise $10 million to fund state-of-the-art exhibits at the U.S. Navy Seabee Museum in Port Hueneme, CA. But the campaign needed more than a refresh. It needed to expand beyond its existing donor base of military veterans and their families to reach the construction and engineering industries, STEM educators and students, and the broader public. Without a compelling story that could speak to all of them, the campaign would keep fishing in the same small pond.

The Insight

What Makes the Seabees Different From Every Other Military Branch

We started with a competitive analysis of military and institutional capital campaigns. The question was simple: what makes the Seabees a cause worth supporting that no other campaign can claim?

The answer was in the stories.

On Iwo Jima, Seabees solved the problem of a hidden enemy patrol by pumping 500,000 gallons of water into their cave.

A Seabee got his engine running again by building a working condenser from tinfoil stripped off cigarette packs, waxed paper from a fruitcake box, and a discarded beer can.

In the field, Seabees converted 55-gallon drums into sewer pipes, roofing material, canoes, bathtubs, and solar-heated showers.

No other branch had stories like these. The Seabees didn’t just fight — they invented, improvised, and engineered their way through every obstacle.

Messaging Strategy

The Insight That Unlocked the Campaign

That pattern of solving impossible problems with whatever was at hand became our strategic foundation. It wasn’t just military valor. It was the same creative problem-solving that drives modern engineering, powers the construction industry, and defines what we want STEM education to produce.

Ingenuity was the thread that could connect a Seabee veteran to a construction executive, a museum donor to a high school student considering a career in the trades. It gave the campaign a story bigger than its history — and an audience far larger than its traditional base.

Campaign Theme & Identity: 75 Years of Ingenuity at Work

The theme we developed — 75 Years of Ingenuity at Work — anchors the campaign in the Seabees’ diamond anniversary while making their legacy relevant to audiences who may never have heard of them. The campaign logo and visual identity system were built around that idea: flexible enough to work across print, digital, and event materials, consistent enough to build recognition across a long campaign. We delivered a complete style guide with all assets so the Foundation’s team could execute independently across every fundraising touchpoint.

A Website That Pulls Donors Into the Story

The campaign website was designed to do more than present information — it invites visitors to explore the Seabees’ ingenuity before ever asking them to give. Prospective donors learn who the Seabees were, what the museum represents, and specifically how their contribution will transform the visitor experience. The site gives every audience segment — veterans, industry leaders, educators, and first-time visitors — a reason to care.

A Brochure Built on Action Design Principles

The campaign brochure was crafted using Action Design — a framework for moving readers from awareness to commitment. Rather than leading with need, it leads with identity: the pride military families feel in service, the relevance of Seabee skills to today’s workforce, and the power of the museum to inspire the next generation of engineers and builders. It makes the case that preserving the Seabees’ story isn’t nostalgia — it’s an investment in the future of American innovation.

A Legacy Preserved. A New Generation of Supporters Engaged.

The 75 Years of Ingenuity at Work campaign gave the Foundation the tools to tell a story that had never been told quite this way — and to tell it to audiences who had never heard it. By anchoring the campaign in the Seabees’ defining trait rather than their military history alone, we helped the Foundation move beyond its traditional donor base and make the case for a museum that belongs not just to veterans but to anyone who believes in American ingenuity, skilled labor, and the people who build things that matter.

To give the campaign lasting momentum, we built a communications strategy around the voices of core donors — Seabee veterans and their families, alongside business and industry leaders who connected with the mission. Their stories became the campaign’s most powerful fundraising tool, demonstrating the breadth of the Seabee legacy and the range of people it inspired.

The campaign website anchored the ongoing storytelling with a blog that kept the campaign alive between solicitations, featuring new Seabee stories, donor spotlights, and updates on the museum’s progress. It gave supporters a reason to stay engaged, share the campaign with their networks, and see themselves as part of something larger than a single gift.

Marketing Ideas & Presentation Promote Readathon

Howard Levy — Tue, 16 Feb 2016 02:58:42 +0000

Client: Pratham USA

The U.S. fundraising arm for the largest literacy organization in India approached us to promote their Readathon, a key initiative for engaging youth in their work and to raise money for their educational programs in India

Marketing Ideas

The first part of the project was strategic — developing the best ways for reaching and recruiting people for the Readathon. We generated a range of ideas including:

Organizing readings at Indian restaurants
Having kids dress up in their favorite character from popular books
Parlay kids summer reading lists for the Readathon.
Get a family-friendly restaurant that has locations around the country to sponsor
Having live streaming of kids in India read as a national event streaming event in several cities simultaneously

Marketing Collateral

The second part was writing and designing an effective presentation to promote the Readathon. The intent was to provide the local chapters with a tool for recruiting people in their communities who would act as Coordinators, to put together small teams of readers.

The presentation clearly and succinctly describes the Readathon and the various roles of the participants and sponsors.

The campaign also included a flyer that could be customized by each chapter for promoting local events while maintaining the look of Readathon.

Results

The 2014 Readathon raised $85,000, exceeding the previous year by $10,000, and increasing the average donation from $76 to $102.

See the full Pratham USA Branding & Marketing Case Study

Ten-Year Retrospective Report Looks Ahead As Well

Howard Levy — Wed, 02 Dec 2015 19:04:14 +0000

Client: Fund for Public Health in New York

The Fund for Public Health in New York is a public-private partnership that raises money for health initiatives and supports the New York City Department of Health. For its 10th anniversary report, we created four themes that covered the scope of its work, and featured three programs in each area. We also created a timeline with selected accomplishments during its 10-year history. In addition to looking back at successes, we devised a feature called Invitation to Innovation to whet the appetite of potential donors about the possibilities of what their support could help accomplish in the future.

Brochure Re-invigorates Capital Campaign

Howard Levy — Tue, 13 Oct 2015 19:58:11 +0000

Client: Yeshivah of Flatbush

To help re-energize this school’s stalled capital campaign, Red Rooster Group developed an enticing brochure that went beyond the architectural renderings that had previously been used.

Our approach was to help donors understand the school’s story and what the new spaces would mean for students. We brought the static renderings to life by using vellum overlays with quotes from students about how the new spaces would improve their educational experience and build a more vibrant community.

We also emphasized the progress that had been made with an updated floor plan that highlighted the spaces already completed. The oversized 15 x 10 inch format (which opens to 30 inches) with full page, full bleed images, and vellum overlays gets donors to take another look at what the school is really about, and provide multiple ways to engage donors based on their various interests.

Brochure Promotes Chaplaincy For Membership & Fundraising

Howard Levy — Wed, 07 Oct 2015 20:27:39 +0000

Client: National Association of Jewish Chaplains

Typically associated with the military, chaplains actually provide relief to people in a wide variety of settings. When the international body for Jewish chaplains wanted to demonstrate the value that chaplains have in our society, and the role that the association plays in supporting them, we created this brochure. Based on interviews with chaplains in various roles, the brochure uses specific examples to bring their stories to life.

The project also included updating the association’s logo to boost recognition for building membership and for fundraising.