Inspiring Donors — Murmur Ring

INSPIRING DONORS
Chicago

Amidst a changing donor audience, the Comer Education Campus faces the challenge of maintaining existing funders’ interest and capturing the attention of new donors.

With this goal in mind, Murmur Ring designed, led, and documented a thoughtfully designed experiential showcase of the organization’s building, youth, and mission for their 10th Annual Benefit. This event was the first time in Comer’s history that their donors were invited to celebrate the annual benefit within the John Ronan designed building.

A Cinematic, Emotive Film

In addition to the curation and documentation of a single day immersive experience, we partnered with award-winning filmmaker Carlos Javier Ortiz to create a core film for the Comer Education Campus. This film premiered at the 10th Annual Benefit event and was designed to be used across digital platforms to effectively tell the organization’s story.

Together, Murmur Ring and Carlos Javier Ortiz created a core narrative film that is artful and cinematic, human and emotive. As opposed to capturing talking head interviews, we used beautiful b-roll to bring viewers into the experience of Comer, with narrative voice overs from Comer Education Campus youth.

“When I think about the future, I think of a time and place in which black bodies can be existing, in which they can enjoy the privileges and freedom that we all deserve.”

— Oluwaseyi Olaleye, Comer Education Campus Alumni

Human-Centered Research

Murmur Ring implemented a human-centered, reflective, research-driven approach to design an event and develop a film content to inspire donors to give. This process began with a series of interviews across channels of Comer Education Campus stakeholders: alumni, youth, staff, board members, and donors. The insights found through these conversations were used to develop an intentionally crafted event and film that would capture the attention of donors.

“What we need to do with this event is maximize retaining people who gave in the past, secure sponsors ahead of time, get new people to come to campus to see what we are about - because those people are the future.”

— Comer Education Campus Staff

“The respect between teachers and kids - you walk into the building and the energy is powerful.”

— Comer Education Campus sponsor

“We need to talk about the good that is happening on the South Side. We are one of the only organizations in the country offering all the kinds of programs we have in one place.”

— Comer Education Campus Staff

“We have pathways designed, but how do you bring it to life in a way that people get excited and motivated by? … [How do you show] real tangible results being built?”

— Comer Education Campus Board Member

“A gala… personally I’m not interested in that anymore.”

— Comer Education Campus Board Member

Event Design

Based on our research findings, Murmur Ring’s event design focused on these guiding principals:

HOW IT FEELS: Emotive, Genuine

HOW IT LOOKS: Elevated

WHAT IT ASKS YOU TO DO: Purposeful

HOW IT IS EXECUTED: Youth-focused

We developed a festival-style event with workshops and demos being led by Comer youth and staff throughout the building - providing guests a chance to see the magic of the Comer Education Campus in action. Based on our research findings, we knew that guests were not interested in heavy use of technology or a formal gala style event. Rather, what most impresses the organization’s donors is seeing the youth and staff in action. We thoughtfully integrated programming staff, materials, and youth throughout the building to fulfill this interest, invite guests to get to know the folks their dollars support, and inspire them to continue investing in the future of this community.