CCO is not simply looking for more marketing activity. The organization is at a point where growth, funding, alumni engagement, church partnerships, brand clarity, and internal capacity all need to work together.
The goal is to help CCO move from campaign-based growth to a sustainable marketing and engagement engine that consistently brings new people into relationship with the ministry and moves them toward deeper involvement.
Presented by The A Group
CCO's desired 12-month win is clear:
To stop relying on one-off campaigns as the primary driver of growth and build a sustainable marketing engine that consistently creates new relationships and deeper engagement.
Several important themes emerged:
But those assets are not yet operating as one coordinated growth system.
The opportunity is to connect:
When those pieces work together, CCO can create a more predictable path from awareness to engagement, from engagement to giving, and from giving to deeper long-term partnership.
A growth engine is the combination of message, audience, offer, systems, follow-up, measurement, and execution capacity that allows an organization to grow consistently over time.
That means the work cannot be limited to "communications" or "marketing." It has to connect directly to advancement, alumni, church partnerships, donor conversion, and internal alignment.
We recommend a phased implementation partnership built around clear priorities, measurable benchmarks, and flexible execution support.
The work should be structured around four core questions:
Define the 12-month growth priorities, audience segments, conversion goals, and reporting structure.
This creates alignment around what success looks like and how progress will be measured.
Review the 45,000-person database and determine how many contacts are usable, reachable, and strategically valuable.
Beth's estimate of 18,000 to 20,000 usable contacts is a helpful starting point, but the data needs to be validated.
Clarify how CCO explains its mission, national role, campus impact, church partnership value, alumni connection, and funding opportunity.
The goal is not a cosmetic brand exercise. The goal is messaging that helps people understand why CCO matters now and how they can engage.
Build pathways that bring new people into relationship with CCO and move them toward clear next steps.
This may include landing pages, email journeys, donor pathways, church partner funnels, alumni re-engagement, and qualified lead handoff processes.
Create clearer donor journeys for first-time donors, recurring donors, major donor prospects, alumni donors, and ministry friends.
The goal is to help marketing and advancement work together instead of operating as separate functions.
Use moments like the 50th Jubilee as relationship-building opportunities, not one-time events.
This includes organized follow-up, segmentation, storytelling, giving pathways, and long-term alumni engagement.
Clarify the ideal church partner profile and develop messaging and outreach assets that help churches understand the value of partnering with CCO.
This is especially important as CCO continues expanding beyond its historic networks.
Help CCO determine what should be built externally, what should eventually move internally, and what roles or systems are needed to sustain growth.
Review current systems, data, messaging, follow-up processes, audience segments, and past growth efforts.
Deliverables may include:
Develop the first set of systems and assets needed to support growth.
Possible focus areas:
Begin testing the first priority initiatives and measuring early movement.
Potential pilots:
Because CCO's needs touch strategy, systems, messaging, donor development, alumni engagement, and execution capacity, we recommend structuring the engagement as a flexible implementation partnership rather than a rigid project scope.
That gives CCO the ability to allocate time where it will create the most value while still holding the work accountable to clear priorities, benchmarks, and measurable progress.
Best if CCO wants to begin with one or two priorities at a time.
Likely focus:
Estimated Investment: $9,000 to $13,500/month
Recommended if CCO wants to build the foundation for a sustainable growth engine while also receiving meaningful execution support.
Likely focus:
Estimated Investment: $14,000 to $18,000+/month
Best if CCO wants faster movement across multiple workstreams with heavier execution support.
Likely focus:
The A Group works with mission-driven organizations that need more than marketing activity. They need clarity, systems, execution, and growth strategy that support long-term organizational health.
We have helped organizations like Wisdom International and Foster Village work through similar challenges related to growth, positioning, donor engagement, scalability, and communications.
Wisdom International has revampt its entire ministry structure and fundraising with our help and has seen 25% year -over-year growth in their numbers.
In Foster Village's case, we helped develop and implement a national franchise model that has expanded to more than a dozen cities over the past five years. Now we are incorporating an AI tool to help facilitate faster onboarding and problem solving for their affiliates.
That experience matters because CCO is not simply trying to run a campaign. CCO is trying to build the systems and clarity needed to sustain national growth.
The goal is not more activity.
The goal is a measurable growth engine that helps CCO:
Clarify its national story
Re-engage alumni and ministry friends
Convert interest into revenue (7-10% growth a year)
Build donor acquisition funnels
Grow church partnerships
Improve follow-up capacity
Consult on internal hiring for continued growth
Protect and expand national scale