Success Stories
As the nation's largest planned giving vendor with over 35 years of experience, Crescendo Interactive is proud to provide its marketing and educational services to a wide variety of organizations in different fields:
- Hospitals and healthcare organizations
- Schools, colleges and universities
- Faith based organizations
- Humanitarian and social service organizations
- Arts and cultural organizations
- Community foundations
- Environmental and animal organizations
- International organizations and more
Senior Director of Philanthropy
Sr. Gift Planning Advisor
Wycliffe Bible Translators Foundation
"On behalf of Wycliffe Foundation, we want to thank Crescendo for this incredible honor.
For more than 30 years, Crescendo has been a trusted partner in our work. Through our wycliffefoundation.org website, bi-weekly GiftLegacy e-newsletters, brochures, mailings, social posts, and emails, we've been able to connect with donors in meaningful ways. We regularly point people to your videos and calculators, and your resources have helped us tell the story of planned giving with clarity and impact.
Your team has gone above and beyond — whether it's the expertise from Gift Law, quick answers to technical questions, or Charles' patient help walking us through unique and complicated gift scenarios.
Because of this partnership, in the last five years alone, Wycliffe Foundation has received more than $256 million for Bible translation. That's not just a number — it represents lives changed and communities transformed by God's Word.
Crescendo, thank you for equipping us, encouraging us, and celebrating with us in this calling. We're deeply grateful."
Congratulations to the team at Wycliffe Bible Translators Foundation for winning the coveted 2025 Emarketer of the Year Award at our 2025 Crescendo Creative Gift Conference.
Director of Donor Relations and Communications
Scranton Area Community Foundation
"Crescendo's tools and guidance have meaningfully strengthened our planned giving efforts and enriched the conversations we're able to have with donors about creating a lasting impact in our community. Their expertise, resources, and ongoing support have helped us elevate our approach and engage donors in more thoughtful planning. We truly value this partnership."
Executive Director
University of Miami
"We've used Crescendo's GiftLegacy system to send out systematic, effective messaging and provide information to cultivate our prospect and donor base. Crescendo's e-newsletters, briefs, and our website, including the Wills Guide, have served as excellent lead generators. For the last three years, here at the University of Miami, we have surpassed our annual fundraising goal of well over $50 million per year!"
Sr. Director of Charitable Gift Planning
Boise State University Foundation
"At the Boise State University Foundation, Crescendo's planned giving tools have become a valuable component of our overall marketing and donor engagement strategy. The GiftLegacy resources, especially the e-newsletters, briefs, templates, and website content, give us flexible, customizable components that help us maintain consistent, informative outreach. By tailoring Crescendo's templates and messaging to fit our voice, we've created campaigns that feel authentic to Boise State and routinely generate inquiries, strengthen donor conversations, and keep our community engaged in meaningful ways."
VP of legal and ED of Gift Planning
Hoag Hospital Foundation
"Hoag Hospital Foundation uses Crescendo's enewsletters (donor and advisor), brochures, print newsletter, website, software, marketing materials and plans, wills guide, bequest literature - basically all Crescendo has to offer.
Crescendo continues to have a huge impact on our gift planning program. Their marketing highlights our program making it easy for donors to explore these opportunities. Of course, there is nothing like personal touch, but Crescendo helps us to increase those touches.
We are extremely happy with Crescendo's products and customer service. In the last three years, HHF has raised $300 million in planned gifts.
Assistant Vice President for Advancement and Gift Planning
Michigan Tech University
"Crescendo's leadership anticipates the future impact of economic, demographic, and philanthropic changes and prepares action plans for its clients. We are confident that our alumni and friends are receiving timely and valuable information through GiftLegacy and customized donor proposals. Even through a pandemic, we raised critical charitable dollars while serving our alumni and donors, specifically with information shared through GiftLegacy. Many Americans reviewed and updated their estate plans when evaluating personal situations during COVID-19. Crescendo's donor-centric approach allowed donors to explore our mtulegacy.org website, learn how to provide for and protect their families first, and then support Michigan Tech. GiftLegacy's educational content appeals to our donors, especially the online calculators. The eNewsletter, donor analytics, custom proposals, and access to gift planning attorneys are instrumental in taking our fundraising to new levels. Major, blended, and planned gifts have steadily increased. Michigan Tech raised $163 million in the last three years and grew our endowment by 32%! We have worked with Crescendo Interactive for over 20 years and are early adopters of each innovative component in their comprehensive suite of services. This year we are excited to engage with multiple donor segments through the new survey tool. Crescendo Interactive is a great partner in building our giving program, and we look forward to continuing to work together to reach new heights in philanthropic support. "
Senior Associate Vice President for Development
Clemson University
"Clemson University's monthly enewsletter has a wide audience and broad appeal to the more than 138,000 that receive it. With an open rate over 50%, this e-communication creates an environment that supports all facets of philanthropy at Clemson. From annual gifts to major gifts and including deferred giving, the e-newsletter fosters a culture of information and inspiration that influences alumni, friends, parents, and all to invest in the students, faculty, and programs at Clemson. Furthermore, the proposals generated within CresPro Software allow for a consistent and streamlined message/process that is easy to produce and present. The donors appreciate this production to share with their family/loved ones as well as their professional advisors. Additionally, the frontline major gifts officers access the website on a regular basis when having engaging gift conversations with donor prospects to support interest in various options to make current use gifts."
Over the past three years Clemson has raised $85 million in gifts! Congratulations to the team at Clemson University for winning the coveted 2024 Emarketer of the Year Award at our 2024 Practical Planned Giving Conference.
Gift Planning Officer
Sharp HealthCare Foundation
"Crescendo's Multi-Faceted Marketing Tools have been transformational for Sharp HealthCare Foundation's legacy giving efforts. Since launching our emarketing program we have seen year-over-year increases of nearly 50% in bequest commitments from our donors - increased focus on planned gifts has been a key contributor to Sharp's fundraising success over the past 3 years. We were particularly pleased with the Survey tool, which identified multiple previously unknown future bequests and resulted in numerous opportunities for follow-up with donors who expressed interest in learning more. The eNewsletters are very well received, with minimal opt-out and high open rates, and we appreciate the analytics that give us insights into which pages our donors are clicking on. All in all, working with Crescendo has been an incredible investment and one that will continue to reap benefits for healthcare in San Diego for decades to come."
Stewardship & Trust Administrator
Institute for Creation Research
"The Institute for Creation Research personally wants to let you know how much we appreciated Crescendo's help with our gift planning website redesign and all the other resourceful information! It has really made a difference! To be more specific, we hit an all-time high for donors just in November and December in 2022 with a 4% increase in the number of donors. Also, in total dollar amounts specifically gifted through IRA, DAF, etc. we had a 34% increase in funds. We believe with Crescendo GiftLegacy's upgrades for current and future gifts to our planned giving website pages and also creating specific eBlasts and social media ads in November and December for gift planning, we have increased ICR mission awareness and gained access to brand new donors. Again, thank you, Crescendo GiftLegacy!"
Assistant Vice President, Legacy Planning
Chapman University
"When marketing the idea of legacy giving, it's essential to have multiple ways to connect with prospective donors and share the information needed to advance the conversation. As a one-person planned giving office, Crescendo's GiftLegacy marketing package empowered me with great resources: GiftLegacy website and enewsletter, donor proposals, social media posts, ebrochures, presentations, educational webinars, desktop printing, Provide & Protect book, wills guide and more!
Since launching with Crescendo, Chapman University has secured millions in planned gifts for the future of our mission. While strategic face-to-face visits are essential to this kind of success, Crescendo helps open the doors to these conversations. Thank you Crescendo!"
Executive Director of Gift Planning
UNC Chapel Hill
"Crescendo has been a valued partner to the UNC Gift Planning Program for many years. Since we announced For All Kind: the Campaign for Carolina three years ago we began to rely on the GiftLegacy CresManager for our entire marketing program. The CresPrint platform provided the materials for our e-blasts and mailers, particularly the extended postcard format. We have also successfully used Crescendo's GiftLegacy platform for our Charles Gerrard legacy Society for monthly e-notes with a successful open rate of 85%! You partnered with us from soup to nuts i.e. from wording, design, mailing, e-blasts, tracking open rates and leads. All marketing and stewardship pieces brought prospects back to our beautifully designed Crescendo website. I don't know how our marketing program could be this successful without this partnership. The e-marketing platform serves an integral and necessary role in our gift planning industry. Thank you Crescendo."
President
South Dakota Community Foundation
"Planned Giving has been a crucial part of our development efforts since our inception nearly 35 years ago, and Crescendo has been a partner in that effort for over 20 of those years. Our development team regularly uses the software to run illustrations for our donors who are in the midst of business, tax, and estate planning. In addition, in recent years, we have dramatically increased our utilization through the personalization of the eMarketing resources Crescendo offers. These efforts have resulted in several new inquiries from potential donors but have also led our existing donors to take the next step in long-term planning with SDCF. As a result, donors trust our team to provide them with the tools and resources they need to accomplish their philanthropic goals.
