New York Aikikai

Aikido is a traditional Japanese martial art focused on learning to "become an integrated and balanced individual and explore our full human potential." — Yoshimitsu Yamada

New York Aikikai has been a center for this beautiful martial art for more than fifty years. For their community to continue to thrive and to adhere to city regulations, their school needs a variety of improvements. We saw the need for a capital campaign, but first, we knew it was essential to establish a fundraising base.

In the middle of laying this foundation, the aikido community had a great loss: the first chief instructor of the New York Aikikai passed away in early 2023. Fundraising generally and capital campaigns specifically are deeply linked to who a community is, who they have been, and who they are becoming. Grief, of course, plays a part in all of this. We walked alongside leadership as they navigated reflections on their community’s identity, and helped them strengthen their bonds with each other as they moved into a new era.

Phase I: Annual campaign

When we first started working with the New York Aikikai, there wasn't a history of strong annual campaigns. When done well, annual campaigns thread the needle between donors motivations and giving, and also train leadership to communicate, organize and ask. Annual campaigns train fundraising muscles for capital campaigns. Prior to the capital campaign, we ran two annual campaigns.

Phase II: Feasibility study

On the heels of the pandemic, we conducted a feasibility study, which continued to thread the needle between motivation and giving. We communicated the great care that this community has for each other through a case statement, interviewed individuals throughout the world, received surveys and made recommendations not only for an appropriate goal and timeline, but also for necessary changes in infrastructure to ensure long-term success. From this, in concert with the annual campaign, we helped onboard a new database, procedures for thanking, and more regular communication and transparency.

Phase III: Solicitation

As we were preparing to begin the solicitation portion of the campaign, the school’s beloved chief instructor and leader Yoshimitsu Yamada Sensei passed away. After a few months of adjusting to the new normal and hosting a memorial service that drew people from all over the world, we started up again.

New fundraising goals were set, leadership recruited, and we utilized the legacy of Yamada Sensei as a way for people to honor their relationship with the dojo, while looking squarely forward to the strong promise that the future holds for this community. Finishing the campaign at the end of January 2024, we raised funds from individuals, dojos and communities in 14 countries. The organization surpassed their primary and stretch goals, and exceeded everyone's expectations.

Phase IV: New website

Coming out of the gate with such strength in 2024 we turned our attention to a new website. Between the community having been gathered in new ways through the capital campaign, and the expectations for strengthened communications, we translated much of the learnings from the campaign into a brand new, interactive website. We continue to maintain this site.

Metro New York Synod (ELCA)

The Metro New York Synod came to us with a few short months to spare before their Reformation 500 Service at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. They needed a skilled event planner who could quickly onramp their work as they knew time was running out. In addition to needing help, the scope of the event kept growing!

The event grew from an expected audience of a few hundred to over 1,000. This included ecumenical guests from throughout the breadth and depth of the Christian tradition. In addition, liturgical planning was needed with two choirs, three ensembles, and dozens more liturgical participants. We coordinated countless details and subcontractors to provide a seamless experience for the guests who came and allowed the liturgy to shine through. A powerful event moving forward the ecumenical community committed to unity in Christ, we were proud to have played a part in creating this memorable night of a lifetime.

Q Christian Fellowship

Q Christian Fellowship is an international network of Christians working for fully inclusive Christian community and a world where all people are treated as the beloved children of God. It is their mission to transform attitudes toward LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) people and bring about a day when the church is the biggest ally and defender of LGBTQ people rather than a chief opponent.

Q Christian came to us with an urgent need for a new website. After quickly completing a new, beautiful, easy to navigate site, we then began work on a name change, shift in verbal identity, visual implementation including logo and web design, and a short video.

“Vandersall Collective was an incredibly efficient and creative firm that took our organization through a massive name change process—including rebranding, rollout, and website build—while using professional resources and insight that left my company comfortable in every stage of the process and utterly pleased with the final products.”

— Isaac Archuleta, Previous Executive Director, Q Christian Fellowship

Synod of the Northeast

The General Assembly of the PCUSA asked synods around the country to answer the question of why they should exist. We worked with Synod of the Northeast to come up with their response.

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“We are glad to be working again with Vandersall Collective on branding our biennial worship, learning and fellowship gathering. Working with Vandersall Collective is accessing creativity, diligence, and passion commitment to radical welcome and pursuit of justice.”

— The Rev. Dr. Amaury Tañón-Santos, Synod of the Northeast

Several years ago, the Synod of the Northeast of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) was responding to a mandate from its national body to examine its effectiveness and purpose. While being open to complete disbandedment, they learned that they have particular gifts to share, and that the diversity of the gathered community was too important to lose. To emphasize the gifts of this gathered body, they worked to refocus their energies, flipping the balance so that gathering received more emphasis than governing, allowing the gathering time to be filled with energy and the governing time to be filled with purpose.

In three key areas, we have been honored to work with the Synod to help implement its new strategic vision.

COMMUNICATION

We created and implemented a cohesive and cross-platform communication plan in consultation with the Synod, and as a result of a communications audit. The website was used as a community hub where information was shared clearly and effectively. A video was created to communicate the personalities and the impact the Synod is having on the life of its constituents. An eblast schedule and template (both visual and content) was created to further tell those stories, driving traffic back to the website. Finally, we created special branding for their two biennial conferences, known as Come to the Table. 

To effectively communicate their vision, and the new ways of engagement that come out of that vision, their website needed to become a vital location centralizing communication and provide opportunity for community-building. After completing a communications audit and report, we took their existing logo and vision, flushed out a verbal and visual brand identity, and created a new, easy to update website.

To communicate with their constituency in between events, as well as to communicate the weight and importance of their work with current and potential donors, we created a robust package of print materials. Their Robert L. Washington Scholars & Fellows program was established to provide leadership opportunities for young and/or people of color, and we also created a gorgeous and hefty annual report.

The Synod also needed a way to personally and persuasively communicate their vision and warmth to the people in their large geographic area without physically having to be present. Our creative team reflected their story back through a short video. Working with a team from the Synod we wrote a script, gathered leaders from throughout the Synod together for a day-long shoot, and then edited together a video currently used in their local communities, and at fundraising events.

Stories of hope and innovation that exemplified the Synod’s deepened purposed needed to be shared persuasively and effectively. We created a communication schedule and guidelines, integrating the website, social media and new eblast templates to reflect the new brand identity. We also worked with the staff to train them to take their design templates and do it on their own.

Finally, as the Synod's focus shifted to gathering, the first non-governing event was a major undertaking. Our services were contracted to help the planning team create and execute a hospitable, organized experience for their guests. We took the branding platform and guidelines and implemented them through the creation of a registration process and conference booklet. We also worked with the worship team to align our worship time with the new vision of the Synod. Mieke Vandersall, Derrick McQueen, Paul Vasile, and Larissa Kwong-Abazia of the Vandersall Collective were instrumental in making this event a success. 

GRANT-MAKING

In their process of re-visioning, the Synod reallocated significant funding to support innovative ministry within their geographical bounds. When we began our work with the Synod they asked for help in reconstructing their grant applications, application process, and review process. Using best practices, putting more trust in the applicants, and encouraging them to explain their needs in their own words, we first wrote a report after speaking with various past grantees with recommendations for change and then worked with the Mission and Ministry Commission (their Board-equivalent) to refresh their process and encourage a more mutual relationship between the applicants and their Synod. The stories of the applicants were also the basis of our communication strategy.

FUNDRAISING

With so many new people, congregations and organizations seeking funding from the Synod, and the heightened communication about the granting opportunities, the generous funding set aside in the Synod’s budget was being spent faster than ever before. In order to understand how best to raise funds, we completed a development audit, and then began a robust major-donor program, integrating the opportunity for giving on the website, organizing multiple cultivation events throughout the northeast, and launching the Synod's inaugural year-end campaign highlighting the impact of the grants made to innovative ministries.