Mom2Mom: How Improved Data Led to the Most Successful Year-End Campaign to Date

SVP Alumnus organization Mom2Mom helps connect moms and children living in poverty with the resources, community, and support they need to thrive.

Reevaluating the evaluation process

Over the past two years, Mom2Mom has been working with SVP’s Social Impact Coach Karen Gelb to better measure and communicate the impact that their programming is having on their participants. With the help of their new evaluation data, Mom2Mom led their most successful year-end campaign ever!

“We’ve measured how it helps the moms, how it impacts the kids. We knew the program had value, but now we have actual proof and data to back it up,” said Samantha Schumacher, Mom2Mom’s Coordinator of Communications and Fund Development.

“Working with Karen has been absolutely invaluable. Before, our program evaluation didn’t get to the root of what we needed. Karen was great at digging into what we wanted to get out of our evaluation data, so that we can provide more support to our participants,” Samantha said. “She understands who our participants are and really cared about not wanting to exploit them or manipulate the data.” 

Samantha expressed that working with Karen has directly impacted her ability to do her job. “I can shoot her an email asking her questions, she came to our strategy planning and added her thoughts when appropriate. It was so great  and so appreciated. She really understands the work we do and who we are; I’ve never felt like I had to explain it to her. She’s helping us to succeed.” 

Mom2Mom can now use their improved evaluation data in a wide range of applications. Samantha continues, “I use that data on grant applications, for social media content, sharing information with donors, communicating impact, and for our annual report.”

Measuring the positive impacts of food security through the Gift of Groceries

Mom2Mom can now show concretely how their programming impacts families, and they can back up their message with clear numbers. For their winter fundraising campaign, the Gift of Groceries, they were able to measure how money for food security helps the moms who receive it, and how it impacts their children. 

This winter, Mom2Mom’s fundraising goal for their Gift of Groceries campaign was $80,000. Not only did they exceed their goal, they were also able to increase the monthly grocery support each family receives by $25 per month.The program’s positive impact is clear: 69% of families either do not need access to the food bank anymore, or are going significantly less than they used to.

Advice for new Investees: Make connections!

For Mom2Mom, working with SVP has opened them up to a community of wonderful co-Investees and excellent resources. Samantha says, “Take advantage of the incredible resource that SVP is. The relationships we’ve built with other Investees is really great; we get to meet each other and have that connection through SVP. This gives our participants a safety net of support.  When participant moms require resources beyond our mission and mandate, we can refer them to our network of organizations.”

Mom2Mom has also received funding through SVP Vancouver’s Flex Fund, and will be working to improve their IT security. They are also looking forward to accessing the Unfunded List in the future.