Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

In May 2020, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation funded 200 charities and nonprofits from 58 countries to take part in a 12 month BRIDGE programme. Through a partnership with GlobalGiving, the programme’s goal was to teach participants the vital digital skills they needed to see their organisations through the pandemic and emerge stronger and more resilient.

Many of these small to mid-sized charities and nonprofits - who were all actively using the GlobalGiving platform - were uncertain whether they would be able to raise enough funds to support their organisation’s work in the face of cancelled events and economic anxieties in their communities.

Building Resilience In Digital Growth and Engagement (BRIDGE) is Lightful’s essential programme for impact organisations looking to future-proof their operations at a time of great change. The goal of the BRIDGE programme is to build participants’ confidence in three areas - strategy, storytelling and fundraising - so that they gain the knowledge, understanding and experience to reach more people and raise more funds.

The BRIDGE programme taught participants to build their online presence through powerful storytelling and raise funds effectively with emergency campaigns. This has built their organisation’s resilience, so that they can plan for the future with renewed confidence.

• Participants raised 64% more in 2020 while on the BRIDGE program than they did in 2019

• 97% said their confidence had increased since the start of BRIDGE

• Participants outperformed the digital fundraising increase of a typical nonprofit by 3x

BRIDGE has given participating charities and nonprofits the confidence and skills they need to reach wider audiences, tell compelling stories, and raise more funds. These fundamental skills have led to increased resilience, despite the pandemic, ensuring their organisations are ready to face any future challenges.